Flying the flag

Joining them for two weeks’ intensive training were a varied and diverse range of aircraft, drawn from Alaskan-based USAF units such as the 18th Aggressor Squadron from Eielson AFB, Elmendorf based F-22s of the famed 525th ‘Bulldogs’, along with 962 ACCS E-3As, and South Korea-based PACAF A-10s and F-16Cs.

As well as Australia’s participation, the multi-national element of Red Flag Alaska 12-2 consisted of aircraft from as far afield as Poland, a first time partici-pant, whose air force sent a C-130E and Block 52 F-16C/Ds, Germany, which sent eight Typhoons and a single A310 MRTT tanker, and Japan with the JASDF well represented, sending the F-15J, C-130H, KC-767 tanker and E-767 AWACS.

Combined, it represented the second largest-ever Red Flag Alaska exercise, held over the 104,000km2 Joint Pacific Alaska Range Complex (JPARC).

JPARC

The facility, five times bigger than the training area used for Red Flag Nel-lis, bills itself as “The Department of Defense’s premier, multi-domain, live-virtual-constructive joint integration range enabling full spectrum 21st century joint and multinational training”. The range is instrumented, and covers an area equivalent to three-quarters the size of Victoria.

For the duration of the exercise, the RAAF’s aircraft operated out of JBER, or Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson, a sprawling base located in close proximity to Alaska’s largest city, Anchorage.

Eielson AFB, located 400km to the north of Elmendorf is home to the hosts of Red Flag Alaska, the 354th Fighter Wing. Assigned to the Pacific Air Forces 11th Air Force, the 354 FW oversees the execution of Red Flag Alaska (RF-A), and runs the full gamut of simulated combat missions from joint offensive and defensive counter-air, SEAD, CAS, tactical airlift and interdiction.

To get the RAAF persective on Red Flag Alaska, Australian Aviation spoke to two members of the RAAF’s contingent to RF-A 12-2, WGCDR Paul Carpenter, CO of 2SQN and GPCAPT Don Sutherland, OC of 84 Wing.

Wedgetail Red Flag Debut

It’s been a hectic time for the personnel of Williamtown-based 2SQN, who in the last year have taken their brand new E-7s on exercises to Malaysia and Guam. At the time of writing, the squadron, which is working towards initial operating capability (see article elsewhere this issue) had two aircraft simultaneously deployed – one in Hawaii for RimPac 2012, and the other en route to its home base, after its debut at Red Flag and a crowd-pleasing appearance at the Waddington Air Show in Lin-colnshire, UK.

WGCDR Carpenter acknowledged that the Wedgetail has had an intensive work-up period, a result perhaps of a keen-ness to see this long-anticipated capability fielded. 2SQN is making haste slowly as it progresses towards fielding six combat ca-pable E-7s, and exercises such as Red Flag Alaska are a vital stage in the process.

Contrasting the experience of the Cope North 2012 Guam deployment (see May 2012 AA), with Red Flag 12-2 WGCDR Carpenter pointed out that “Red Flag was a step up in complexity for us, in terms of the scale of the exercise, and the number of players involved. We took just under 60 people – two maintenance shifts, two mission crews, a single aircraft with admin and mission support personnel. So we re-ally took the capability to Alaska, as with Guam, but this time we were working just a little bit harder, with missions every sec-ond day for each crew, with non-flying days involving intense mission preparation and co-ordination with all the other crews. ” In the weeks leading up to its deployment to Elmendorf, 2SQN undertook detailed training of its air combat officers to fully prepare them for the rigors of Red Flag.

“We’ve recently had the operational mission simulator (OMS) come online as we work towards IOC. The OMS works alongside the pilot sim and what we’ve done this time in preparation for RF-A is have the aircrew fly the mission in the OMS, with all the RF-A airspace and par-ticipants loaded into the scenario. We used those scenarios to figure out what worked and what didn’t, so the crews’ internal procedures were adjusted as required so that when we got to Red Flag and did it for real, the guys were already familiar with fighter check-in procedures, understood the airspace, understood how to manage large volumes of aircraft. ” While participating in the exercise out of Elmendorf, 2SQN crews would begin plan-ning and preparing the day before a sortie. After briefings, the Wedgetail would get airborne ahead of other aircraft in order to establish a full ‘air picture’, before assigning other aircraft in the wave their respective roles. Part of the role of keeping a ‘God’s eye’ on proceedings was to monitor the bat-tlespace and keep tabs on aircraft entering or exiting the fight as it raged over the vast tracts of Alaskan tundra.

Managing such congested airspace is no small undertaking, given that more than 80 aircraft could be aloft in a single wave, and all needing to be properly deconflicted by the designated lead C2 platform.

Here, the highly automated, leaner Wedgetail came to the fore, and proved its capability when older AEW&C types were grounded. “On one occasion, the NATO E-3 couldn’t get airborne,” WGCDR Carpenter explained. “So we took the lead role. It was a great opportunity to exercise that process of taking on the C2 lead role at short notice. ” A typical mission would see Blue forces, comprising some 50 to 80 multinational and USAF aircraft, pitted against a dozen Eielson-based Aggressor F-16Cs, in a se-ries of scenarios. As the exercise progressed, the level of difficulty intensified, testing aircrew to their limits.

Like the Wedgetail, both the Raptor and Eurofighter were making their Tier 2 (meaning multinational) RF-A debuts, but WGCDR Carpenter would not be drawn on how difficult the Raptor was to track on the E-7’s MESA radar. “It’s hard to discuss at the unclassified level, but there are different ways of working with the F-22 at different security levels. We were very happy with how our systems were working with the Raptor. ”

H-model Swan Song

Richmond-based 37SQN committed two Hercules to Red Flag Alaska 2012 as part of the exercise’s tactical airlift compo-nent that comprised Polish, Japanese and USAF C-130s.

GPCAPT Sutherland, Officer Com-manding of 37SQN’s parent wing, 84WG, is a Hercules veteran who is overseeing the phase-out of the venerable H-model Herc (see report elsewhere this issue). Red Flag Alaska 2012 is to be the type’s penultimate exercise, before it bows out later this year after participating in Pitch Black 2012.

As the aircraft nears retirement, GPCAPT Sutherland explained the reasoning behind its presence in Alaska.

“We have all the corporate knowledge on the H that we’re looking to transfer to the J, so the decision was to deploy both aircraft (to Red Flag). Every time the H flew, we took additional J crew along, to see how they operate in that complex environ-ment, to see how they use the RWR [Radar Warning Receiver], which we don’t yet have on the C-130J. ” 84WG’s 70 personnel were kept busy during the flying phase of the exercise, with the composition of the crews care-fully weighted to ensure the benefits of this unique training opportunity are spread throughout the squadron. As GPCAPT Sutherland points out, it is not necessar-ily the flying that yields the most valuable lessons, but the planning of large, complex packages of aircraft and the interaction with future coalition partners.

Participation in RF-A also gave 37SQN the chance to further strengthen its bond with Japanese C-130 crews, building on a relationship fostered at Andersen AB in Guam during the recent Cope North 2012 exercise.

Waddington

GPCAPT Sutherland outlined the amount of planning that went into the typical Red Flag sortie. “There was so much planning, deconfliction, and mutual planning support going on. We’d work with SEAD to take down defences in an area we were going into – all that’s got to be pre-coordinated the day before, and has to go into the Air Tasking Order, so in effect each aircraft flew one sortie a day that was between four and five hours long. We launched the H and J and they flew in formation in most cases and we were the airlift lead planners for the PM wave. We led the formation of our Hercs, plus either a Polish or USAF Herc or USAF C-17. ” Alaska’s environment also tested 37SQN aircrew, with its prolonged summer day-light hours and towering mountains. Ac-cording to GPCAPT Sutherland: “You’re operating around Mt McKinley, which is a 21,000ft mountain – we don’t see many of them in Australia. It was also 24-hour day-light, with twilight between two and four in the morning. But, we figure, at the end of the day our motto is ‘anywhere, anytime’, and that could be somewhere north in an environment like that. ” WADDINGTON

Having completed its two-week stint at Red Flag Alaska, 2SQN was able to honour its commitment to attend the prestigious Waddington International Airshow in Lin-colnshire, England.

According to WGCDR Carpenter, there were several compelling reasons to visit Wad-dington: “Firstly, we were announcing to the wider world that the Wedgetail capability is coming online. Secondly, one of the themes of Waddington was ISTAR – intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and recon-naissance. And most important of all, it’s the home of 8 Squadron RAF, with the E-3D. We have the newer aircraft, but they have all the experience. They’ve worked in Libya, Balkans, Gulf war and we were very keen to talk to people who’ve done the job for real. ” The presence of the Wedgetail, so far from its home, certainly proved a drawcard to many visitors at the show, but the visit was used to establish a working relationship with the RAF’s AEW&C community, if only at an informal level, and by way of capa-bility briefs on each squadron’s respective platforms. Looking to the future, WGCDR Carpenter commented: “We’ll certainly continue talking with 8 Sqn and developing as close a relationship as possible. ” 2SQN’s visit to Waddington also co-incided with the unveiling of the Bomber Command memorial in London. WGCDR Carpenter was unable to attend, but was reminded of the area’s profound historical significance to Australian airmen. “I became aware just driving around the country-side, around Lincolnshire, there’s so many airfields where Australians fought and didn’t return to.

“It was very striking, given the timing of the memorial, and certainly the highlight of the Waddington Airshow was seeing the Lancaster doing its flypast. ”

Hello/goodbye

Both 37SQN and 2SQN’s Red Flag Alaska’s participants have since returned to their home bases, and have begun the process of digesting the lessons learned and disseminating them at a squadron level.

Both now begin planning for their par-ticipation in Pitch Black 2012 in Darwin, a three-week exercise commencing on July 27.

As with RF-A, 37SQN will take the opportunity (for the last time) to familiar-ise C-130J crew with the H model’s radar warning system, before the type is finally paid off at year’s end.

GPCAPT Sutherland, while certainly fond of the C-130H, is keeping its passing in perspective. “It’ll be sad to see it go, but the J can do what the H can do, but with more modern avionics, less crew. It’s not like the C-130 is dead, it’s just that the legacy moves on to the J. ” GPCAPT Sutherland is especially upbeat about the future composition of Air Lift Group, saying its future mix of assets and spectrum of capabilities pro-vides the ADF with unmatched airlift support. “We’ve got the light airlifter, the C-27, which for our region is going to be a fantastic capability – it will open a whole range of airfields that we haven’t been able to go to since the Caribou retired, and other airfields that the Caribou couldn’t go to because of range. Then it’s through to the medium mix with the C-130J, and we all know what it can do, then the C-17, and it’s almost a case of ‘how did we live without them?’ Then there’s the KC-30 which I expect will be equally as active when it’s operational. And as far as air mobility goes, for the RAAF and ADF, it’s got one of the best air mobility capabilities and aircraft mixes to satisfy anything from short regional tactical airfield insertion to strategic lift. ” For WGCDR Carpenter, 2SQN’s exercise schedule continues apace, with one aircraft currently deployed to the US Navy-administered RIMPAC 2012 Exer-cise in Hawaii. While there, the E-7A will hone its maritime capabilities, again, as in RF-A, as part of a large force element, and providing greater radar coverage for surface ships while managing the battles-pace above them.

Simulated combat exercises such as RIMPAC, and indeed Red Flag Alaska, are both vital in the E-7A’s attainment of full operational capability, expected around the end of 2013. The fleet will then be called upon to perform any number of vital tasks, providing the ADF with the option of using the aircraft across as many roles as possible, from air defence of Aus-tralia to managing airspace above major population centres during events such as APEC meetings.

Hello/goodbye

Both GPCAPT Sutherland and WGCDR Carpenter were full of praise for the realistic combat training Red Flag Alaska provided, and were certain of the enduring positive impact it would have on the ongoing prosecution of their missions.

WGCDR Carpenter spoke highly of the positive feedback concerning the perfor-mance of the E-7A and the proficiency of the squadron’s ACOs, ground staff and admin personnel.

And, as the C-130H nears the end of a distinguished three decades of valuable ser-vice to the country, there can be little doubt that a career of similar length and distinc-tion awaits the Wedgetail.