The Crucible

For its first five years, Red Flag was open only to the US and its NATO allies. Australia, in 1980, became the first ‘outside’ country tosend aircraft and support personnel to Nellis AFB for the three week long exercise that takes place over the 30,000 sq km Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR). This vast expanse is home to a functioning, integrated air defence system (IADS) which includes fixed and mobile surface-to-air missile systems, radars, and ‘red force’ aggressor fighters.

In January 2015, the ADF joined Red Flag 15-1, conducted with flying and non-flying units from the RAF, USAF, USN and USMC. TheADF deployed 150 personnel and three aircraft, with both the C-130J Hercules and AP‑3C Orion making their respective debuts at the exercise.

Air battle managers (ABMs) and air surveillance operators (ASOPs) from Surveillance and Response Group’s 41WG were at Red Flag to gain hands-on experience in controlling coalition type large force employment, while an 11-strong contingent from Joint Operations Command at Bungendore near Canberra were also integrated with Red Flag 15-1’s Combined Air Operations Centre.

Pryin’ Orion

Despite being in the twilight of its days, the evolution of Australia’s Orions from long-range maritime patrol into an overland ISR platform par excellence merited its inclusion in Red Flag, according to CO of 10SQN, WGCDR Jason Begley.

“The AP-3C Orion proved itself in the Middle East Area of Operations (MEAO) as a highly adaptable platform capable of missions well beyond the core maritime roles for which it was originally designed,” WGCDR Begley said. “This adaptability offered Air Force an opportunity to develop the skills and experience of our people in the conduct of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) operations in contested airspace. And we’ll benefit from this investment as those personnel transition those skills and experience to the P-8A and MQ-4C. ” The AP-3C shared ramp space with an array of dedicated ISR types, from the RAF’s Sentinel, to the USAF’s E-8 and RC-135 to the USN’s EP-3E. The AP- 3C’s missions were flown at high level to permit its sensors a more commanding view of the battlespace, with much flying done at night. Each aircraft type would utilise its particular sensor configuration to identify and locate adversary ground and air forces, feeding its data to the battlespace managers Blue Force’s Command and Control centre, and informing the mission commander of the simulated conflict’s ‘big picture’.

WGCDR Begley described the value of the exercise to 10SQN’s uninitiated crews: “Given their smaller scale, one of the most difficult things to simulate in ADF exercises is a thinking, near-peer adversary, who not only aims to prevent you achieving your objectives, but is actively pursuing their own goals. ”The aggressor squadrons and their supporting ground elements on the Nevada Test and Training Range are not passive responders to friendly air activities – they actively plan to entrap and engage our platforms. This in itself provided a level of realism rarely available to the AP-3C in ADF exercises, as the number of adversary aircraft would normally preclude a dedicated effort to punch through combat air patrol to chase down high value assets such as the command and control, ISR and tanker aircraft. ” Given that the Orion’s ISR mission over the Middle East was conducted in a permissive environment, that is, not in hostile airspace, Red Flag permitted 10SQN crews to test their ISR skills in an environment brimful of threats and motivated adversaries, as WGCDR Begley explained.

“A robust integrated air defence system (IADS) working together with even fourth generation capabilities, such as those used by the aggressor squadrons, effectively denies physical access to the overland ISR battlespace by less agile platforms such as the AP-3C until such time as it is degraded by strike assets, both kinetic and non-kinetic. However, the AP-3C’s sensors provide a critical portion of the find, fix, track, target, engage and assess (F2T2EA) cycle, enabling it to look deep into the adversary’s territory to locate and identify these critical threat systems to enable them to be serviced by more survivable platforms. As physical strikes or electronic attack begin to roll back the IADS capability, the AP-3C and other ISR platforms are able to optimise their positioning to begin the F2T2EA cycle again ahead of the next assault wave. ” Despite the looming retirement of the AP-3C, lessons learned at Red Flag are to be incorporated into future tactics, techniques and

The AP-3C’s missions were flown at high level to permit its sensors a more commanding view of the battlespace.

procedures (TTP), which will in turn be employed on the Orion’s successor, the P-8A. Certainly, 10SQN and its 34 deployed personnel will have benefited greatly from their time in the cauldron of simulated air combat.

“The challenge to the crews was a level above anything of this type that they had previously been exposed to. ”

From Richmond To Red Flag

37SQN sent 75 personnel to Nellis AFB to support a pair of C-130J’s, and were accompanied by members of the RAAF Edinburgh-based Joint Electronic Warfare Operational Support Unit (JEWOSU), who were on hand to assist J model aircrew with the aircraft’s newly acquired RWR system.

The deployment of the J model Hercules to Red Flag represents another important step along its path from strategic airlifter to a combat air mobility platform able to operate in contested airspace and, when needed, deliver special forces.

The squadron’s CO, WGCDRDarren Goldie, explained to Australian Aviation the nature of flying undertaken by the C-130J at Red Flag.

“Day and night, air drop and air land, really focusing on moving into the night realm. Also, we were landing on sealed and unsealed runways, with or without lights, flying as a formation and really trying to increase the complexity of the missions – and thereby increasing survivability. So, we were using those training techniques and procedures to try to penetrate as far into the enemy airspace as we could, by means of terrain shielding, low-level flying and emissions control. And we were doing it at night, with all the complexity that brings. ” Low-level flying, at night, in a threat filled scenario – real or not – is a great test of a J model’s two-pilot crew, as WGCDR Goldie acknowledged.

“One of the challenges of the J, and us pushing into this domain, is the pure volume of information coming into the aircraft eitherthrough its sensors, radios, or even some future acquisition. Up until now, we’ve had an approach that looks like other aircraft, where we’d fly a safety height, until we were within a certain range of the airfield, then we’d descend down with the NVGs and land. At Red Flag, we’re doing contour flying, nap of the earth, over the mountains, ideally through the valleys, following the low points of the earth and trying to evade surface radar threats, and navigating en route.

“But you must remember, a fighter pilot can exist in that domain, so for us it’s about learning how to share that workload and make sure that our operations or mission planning teams provide the right product to make sure we can go out there and do it ourselves. There’s probably been a hesitance on our part to really adapt and treat it in many ways like a two-person cockpit it truly is. ” But it was not only 37SQN’s aircrew who were tested by Red Flag, as WGCDR Goldie pointed out. Maintenance crews, in additionto working 20-hour days to make their aircraft mission ready (having to replace a propeller and air conditioning unit early into the deployment), had to contend with aggressors probing the squadron for weaknesses on the ground.

“One of the great things about Red Flag is that it’s a 360-degree exercise. At its simplest, it could be something like a phone call to our maintenance personnel, telling them that the afternoon’s mission has been cancelled. They looked to see if our personnel have the resilience to understand and ask ‘who did that call come from? Is that a recognised authority? Under what process would a mission be cancelled?’ So [red adversaries] are trying to find vulnerabilities and collect information, the same as through our operations. For example, coming to and from the building, we have to think, ‘do we have certain ID displayed that they could take a photo of to gain access to the building?’ So, it was really exercising all the capability. ”With the expense and effort required to deploy aircraft and personnel to such a high-end exercise, it was WGCDR Goldie’s decision to decide who in the squadron would be receiving the chance to test their mettle against the world’s best.

He explained: “One of our challenges [is to have] someone go on an exercise like Red Flag and perform well, because you need to perform well to be frank, to be invited again and to be a C-130 operator of choice in the world.

There are a lot of exercises where they will reach out to a particular capability. So on one hand we send aircrew who we know will do well, on the other it’s my responsibility to make sure it’s a homogenous group of aviators. This Red Flag was about sending a particular group that we’d worked up through Red Flag Alaska, which is a day exercise and more multinational and unclassified, and we’d worked them through that so they could get used to the mission package planning processes, and

There is a multitude of complex systems and information coming into our systems. SQNLDR BEZUIDENHOUT

then into this one and now it’s about disseminating the information gained across the squadron and [now], and moving a new group of people through. ” 41WG 41WG provides air defence and air surveillance operations and training for the ADF, and as such has been a regular attendee at Red Flag over the years where it tests its ability to ‘compile and maintain a recognised air picture for Australian and allied forces’.

The unit deployed to Nevada to provide its air battle management expertise and surveillance and control duties using complex command and control (C2) systems both on the air and on the ground. The Wing’s RedFlag complement comprised 13 personnel – eight ABMs, four air surveillance operators and one intelligence officer.

The detachment’s commander, SQNLDR Vicky Bezuidenhout, outlined the work-up that proceeded the wing’s arrival at Red Flag, where her personnel were to control up to 60 aircraft at a time.

“Before we deployed, we had a three-day work-up, where we did a simulated, three-day exercise in the simulator. And apart from that, it’s definitely a very high learning curve. But we’ve been sending a team to RF every year, and we’ve been passing on the knowledge to the next team. We keep all of the simulated exercises on file and update them accordingly, so we’re able to train and pass on the knowledge to the next team that will be going. ” 41WG’s ABMs and ASOPs were treated to a baptism of fire, with the Wing assigned as primary C2package commanders for the first (and then, third) week of the exercise. With 125 aircraft participating in Red Flag 15-1, everything is done to ensure that the combat flying is as authentic as it is safe.

SQNLDR Bezuidenhout sketched a typical day’s preparation: “You plan a whole day and execute the following day. So, if you plan on a Monday, you execute on the Tuesday. You’ve got the initial planning, briefings and debriefings, scheduled for the whole day. When you execute as package commander, it means that you’ve got to make the decision on when aircraft refuel and when aircraft pushes on time. You also make sure you’ve got a comms plan that works for the mission and ensure all the C2 elements – ISR, strike packages, escort packages – are co-ordinated and deconflicted accordingly. You’re in charge of putting all the elements and packages so that it’s resolved in the success of the mission. ”With so many aircraft aloft, enacting highly complex and fluid scenarios, it might be understandable that 41WG’s ABMs suffer from the phenomenon known as ‘task saturation’. SQNLDR Bezuidenhout explained that the experience is not unknown to air battle managers, but the risk is managed, “Absolutely. We have so much information coming into our radar scopes these days, it’s not like in the older days where you would have raw radar coming in. Now, there is a multitude of complex systems and information coming into our systems, but I think the training we provide is really up to standard and it prepares [our people] accordingly. So with an exercise like Red Flag, task saturation is very high.

“However, with the guys and the team we deployed, we make sure they’re the correct category and highly experienced. We don’t really send junior guys out there, trying to control 60 aircraft in one piece of airspace. We send our most qualified and experienced guys over there to utilise this role because they can effectively manage the information that comes in. ”

Aussie Growler Abroad

Australia’s participation in Red Flag 15-1 was not just limited to those who deployed from RAAF Bases Williamtown, Richmond and Edinburgh.

SQNLDR Shannon Kennedy is a RAAF exchange pilot with the USN’s electronic attack squadron, VAQ-132, flying the EA-18G ahead of its entry into Australian service in 2018. His adopted squadron participated in Red Flag 15-1, where it provided electronic protection to ‘friendly’ forces.

“The Nevada Test and Training Range is filled with an assortment of ‘enemy’ radars, which guide everything from Aggressor fighters to simulated and mock surface-to-air missile sites,” SQNLDR Kennedy said. “VAQ-132’s primary role is to provide airborne electronic attack in the suppression of enemy air defences (SEAD) role, which we do by electronic jamming – or ‘non-kinetic’ attack – and firing anti-radiation missiles at hostile emitting radars associated with surface-to-air missile (SAM) sites. ”SQNLDR Kennedy is due to end his posting in December 2016, before 6SQN equip with the Growler in early 2017 and so becoming the only air force outside the USN to operate this highly prized capability.

To SQNLDR Bezuidenhout, the chance to work with the EA-18G proved a tantalising glimpse of the future.

“It was an eye-opener. It’s definitely a different ballgame than we’re used to. You have to change your approach and it causes us to do a lot of fighter integration tactics. We have to think about integrating this new age fighter into how we co-ordinate missions. But the learning opportunities provided by working with them was unbelievable. ” Those ‘eye-opening’ experiences help ensure that Red Flag remains the premier air combat exercise in the Western world, providing training of immense and tangible value to the air arms fortunate enough to be invited.