AirForces Monthly – June 2018

are space, C2 [command and control], force

protection and helicopter tactics experts; I have

SMEs across the full gambit of air capability.”

The kitchen is typically an important gathering

place for any RAF unit, and no less so at

the ABTC where green and black suits mix

in harmony, demonstrating just how healthy

the relationship is. The black suiters are all

former RAF and Royal Navy personnel, and the

kitchen hums with the services’ unique blend

of extreme professionalism and easy banter.

Dan Simmons, Inzpire’s Head of Aviation

Experts and Fixed Wing Division, and another

former Harrier pilot, explained the company

has been “in the AWC” for two years of its

initial five-year contract and none of the green

suits it began working with remain in post.

His aviation “staff” includes just nine black

suits, with a maximum of five deployed for any

individual project, including Cobra Warrior.

“The effect they have is impressive,

even in quite a large organisation like

the Air Warfare Centre. They’re here

designing all these scenarios and changing

things at the last minute when an asset

drops out, or the weather changes.

“The huge amount of work they do

enables 92 Squadron’s green suiters to

concentrate on their primary role, delivering

training and tactics to the front line.

“We’ve seen an increase in the quality

of the training. That’s the effect our five

guys have had. It’s the same for our

two guys in 29 Squadron, who’ve run a

seven-week exercise between them.”

Group Captain Puzey, Group Captain

Operations and Training, and Cobra Warrior

Exercise Director, sees a combination of black

and green suits as constituting No 92 Squadron:

“They wear the same badges, they’re of the

same mind and when it comes to the exercise it

doesn’t matter what suit you’re wearing, you’re

in that position by virtue of your expertise.”

Capstone event

Wg Cdr Gordon outlines the essential

aims of Exercise Cobra Warrior: “It’s the

pinnacle of RAF collective training, the

culmination of lots of QWI courses.

“We major on integration, because with

the conflicts we’re currently engaged in

it’s difficult to merge everybody together

and learn how to fight collectively. It’s an

area we’ve drifted back on because of the

op tempo, but our job on 92, working with

Inzpire, is to bring that level back up.

“The exercise aim is to teach and assess. It’s

a tough environment, with honest and frank

debriefs. It has to be, because we’re graduating

the people who are potentially going to go and

plan operations; they’re going to need to have

credibility, the self-assessment ability to take a

long hard look at themselves and to be able to

assess the people around them, and instruct.

“We work really hard on developing the

exercise scenarios. It’s where the relationship

between green and black suit works especially

well, because the black suiters have the

expertise to ratchet their scenarios up or down

depending on the desired learning objectives.”

Listening to the people behind Cobra

Warrior talking of training scenarios

and students, it’s easy to lose sight of

exactly who they’re instructing.

Every one of the QWIs under assessment

is an extremely experienced operator in their

own right. They will have flown operational

tours, many will have experienced combat,

and all will possess above average capability.

Are such people challenging to instruct?

The squadron CO says: “As a group, all at

different levels of experience, it’s a challenge,

but one that we relish. The QWI staff are there

to instruct the QWI students, 92 is there to

facilitate their graduation training exercise and

provide a third-party view when required.

“Because of that, if the students have been

engaged on a current operation in the last three

or four years, we – green or black suiters – will

have engaged on it too. We therefore understand

their mindset and we can fall back on our deep

experience in the collective training environment.

“We’re really working to train the people

who will come back and take over our

jobs. It’s what I empower my SMEs to do,

with assistance from the Inzpire staff – do

whatever we need to do to raise the level

of the next generation of instructor.”

Exercise control

Inzpire’s Simon Gilbert, who retired as a

Tornado GR4 navigator last year, works

seamlessly alongside No 92 Squadron’s green

suits as a crucial White Force operator.

During AFM’s visit to Waddington he was

controlling Red Force – but, taking a half-

hour out to talk while an Inzpire colleague

took over as ‘Red Chairman’, explained the

Cobra Warrior construct: “There’s lots of live

Above: Inzpire’s black suiters are all immensely experienced operators. Garry Ridsdale via Inzpire

Right: RAF Tornado GR4 ZA560 ‘EB-Q’ of No 41 Test and Evaluation Squadron during Cobra Warrior last

September. Live fl ying is an essential Cobra Warrior component, but as with all exercises, its availability

is determined by operational commitments, serviceability and weather. Luke Webster

The ABTC’s 80-seat debrief theatre

includes telecon facilities, so

that exercise participants may

participate in real time from other

locations. Garry Ridsdale via Inzpire

Cobra Warrior

100 // JUNE 2018 #363 http://www.airforcesmonthly.com