AirForces Monthly – September 2019

1

Diamond Storm 2019

Top Guns

in the Top End

Exercise

Report

ike any air arm of its

calibre, the Royal

Australian Air Force

(RAAF) makes strenuous efforts

to ensure its pilots have critical

combat skills. At the cutting

edge of this work this year was

Exercise Diamond Storm, part of

the broader – and evolving – Air

Warfare Instructor Course (AWIC).

The first AWIC in 2017 proved

very successful and since then

it’s continued to test and refine

the RAAF’s combat force. This

year’s iteration comprised three

integration exercises: Diamond

Seas, Diamond Shield and

Diamond Storm. Concentrated

upon RAAF Bases Darwin and

Tindal in the Northern Territory,

Diamond Storm brought together

many air force elements and

placed them under realistic

operational pressure. It also

provided a critical test for Air

Combat Group fighter graduates

at No 2 Operational Conversion

Unit (OCU, see Tiger tamers,

July, p36-41) – this was their

last major exercise prior to the

final phase of their training.

In recent years the RAAF has

focused heavily on becoming

a ‘fifth-generation air force’,

enhancing its operational

and educational capabilities

by upgrading or acquiring

new systems and ensuring it

has a well-trained workforce.

Challenging exercises serve to

test integration of warfighting

functions across a range of

specialisations, and AWIC makes

use of subject matter experts

across the air-to-air combat

arena to develop highly skilled

air warfare instructors who will in

turn school the next generation

of fighter pilots and controllers.

Over the last few decades, the

Australian Defence Force has

also focused heavily on better

linking together joint operations

by the RAAF, Royal Australian

Navy (RAN) and Australian Army

as well as allied partners. This

involves using technology and

people to help provide a ‘bigger

picture’ on what’s happening

in the air, in space and on the

ground. This also means testing

and assessing tactics, refining

battlespace management and

learning new ways to overcome

potential opponents.

The RAAF has forged close

working relationships with other

countries to develop and maintain

common connections and to

learn how other nations manage

tactics, strategies and normal

peacetime operations. Should a

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54 // September 2019 #378 http://www.airforcesmonthly.com

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