BRINGINGANEXERCISETOGETHER— THE LOGISTICS
Maj Dowd told Combat Aircraft,
‘We attended an initial planning
conference where we told them
the [number] of aircraft we would
bring as well as the training we were
hoping to get out of the exercise. In
May, we attended a larger planning
conference where we did our
site survey and fully committed
to the exercise. Up to that point,
the US had always operated F-16s
from Čáslav, which is home to the
Czech Gripens, but the site survey
showed that we could operate out
of Náměšť, which was the main base
for this exercise. This proved very
valuable to us since we were on the
air base where all the planning was
happening and we were able to
interface with all of the people that
were running the exercise on a daily
basis. That was a huge win for us.’‘They knew what our capabilities were and
how to integrate us into a wide range of
ground battle scenarios,’ Dowd said.
The JTACs used a number of
observation points (OPs) to operate
from and the scenarios were designed to
replicate actual combat situations. ‘We
always went out as a two-ship, but we
can still do the mission with just a single
F-16 if needed,’ explained Dowd. ‘When
the JTAC gives us targets to destroy, it’s
between the two pilots to come up with
the best plan and to back each other
up to make sure they understand the
situation correctly.’
The day prior to each mission, the pilots
of the 195th would get basic information
about it. On the actual day they headed
into ‘tent city’ and their makeshift
operations ‘block’. Typically, the squadron
intelligence o cer would brief updates
from the exercise directors and provide
maps of the area and contact information
for the JTACs. ‘My wingman and I would
go through all of these products until
we understood what the friendly forces
were trying to achieve, the threats we
might face, who we were going to talk to
and on what frequency,’ Dowd explained.
‘After we understood all of this, we
would take a break until the formal brief,
which occurred just prior to take-o.
During that brief, the two of us went overwas focused on the JTAC, whose job is
to integrate the air force aircraft with the
army forces on the ground.’
The main objective for the 195th was
for its instructor pilots to y advanced
close air support (CAS) missions. ‘On the
training side, our goal was to y CAS
missions that were new and challenging,’
explained Dowd. ‘Then, allow the lessons
we learn in Europe to improve the quality
of instruction we provide to our students
back in Tucson.’
The 162nd Operational Group
commander Col Allen Kinnison told
Combat Aircraft, ‘This is awesome for the
Arizona ANG, and speci cally for the
162nd, to be participating in a tactical
exercise. Since we are a formal training
unit, people [usually] come to us — we
are the schoolhouse. So, bringing us out
and doing something operational, versus
formal training, is great. It’s important that
we are engaged in exercises like this with
countries as far east as we can be.’
Exercise scenarios
In charge of the air scenarios was a Czech
‘Hind’ pilot, who allocated eight sorties per
day for the F-16s — four in the morning
and four in the afternoon. Each pilot had
to get into the SPINS (special instructions)
for the missions from Náměšť, while the
JTACs were well versed in F-16 attributes.
Below: The
Arizona ANG
brought six F-16C/
Ds to Europe.http://www.combataircraft.net // December 2018 63