46 // AUGUST 2018 #365 http://www.airforcesmonthly.com
Dual carrier qualifi cation
Prior to each deployment to a carrier, pilots
have to perform field carrier landing practices
(FCLPs). Opération Chesapeake was no
exception and French pilots conducted
FCLPs at Naval Auxiliary Landing Field
Fentress – a satellite airfield of NAS Oceana
- under the supervision of landing signal
officers (LSOs) from both nations.
“Each pilot underwent a dual validation
by French and US LSOs,” explained the
commanding officer of Flottille 17F. “American
LSOs travelled to Landivisiau last February
to evaluate our performance during FCLPs
and ensure we respected strict safety rules.
“All our navy pilots undergo advanced training
in the US on the T-45 Goshawk and they
know the US procedures. However, they had
to reaccustom themselves with the carrier
landing pattern as flown on US flat-tops.”
The Marine Nationale decided to send to
the USS Bush only highly qualified pilots who
had previously been carrier-qualified either on
the Rafale or the Super Étendard Modernisé
(SEM). The commander of the French carrier
air group explained: “With the transition of
Flottille 17F from the SEM to the Rafale, we find
ourselves with former SEM pilots with plenty
of experience of carrier operations, but with
no Rafale carrier landings under their belt.
“Once on board USS Bush, they carried
out their first trap at the controls of a
Rafale, but this qualification is not directly
applicable to the Charles de Gaulle.
“Despite that, thanks to the deployment on
board USS Bush, the number of traps required
to qualify them on the Charles de Gaulle, once
she is out of refit, will be halved. No traps were
allowed for the young Rafale pilots straight
out of flying training, although they still came
on board to assist us in mission planning.”At sea
For the at-sea phase, the highlight of Opération
Chesapeake, the French Rafale detachment
replaced Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 37
‘Ragin’ Bulls’ aboard USS Bush. French
sailors reported no real difficulty integrating
into CVW-8, demonstrating the ‘plug and play’
capabilities of the Hawkeye and Rafale.
Commander Steven Thomas, the USS
Bush air boss, said: “Interaction between
French and US sailors has been excellent
and seamless. French and US ‘yellow shirts’
[aircraft handlers and directors] worked hand
in hand. We actually expected to have more
procedural friction and some language barrier
issues, but our French colleagues are extremely
professional individuals and the pace of flight
deck operation was almost unchanged.”
During daytime, US carrier aviation procedures
are similar to those used by the French, albeit
somewhat more rapid: “We modified our
carrier circuit slightly in order to follow US
procedures,” explained Flottille 17F’s CO.
“While we fly in for the break at 600ft
and 280kts in France, here, the break is
done at 800ft and 350kts. The US pattern
helps accelerate and expedite ‘the flow’.
“At night, differences are more pronounced.
Our American friends rely on powerful lights
to illuminate the flight deck, while on the
Charles de Gaulle everything is done in pitch
black. This means that US pilots can usehand signals to communicate with flight
deck personnel while on the Charles de
Gaulle it’s so dark that we instead rely on
our position lights to communicate, using
specific sequences to pass on our messages.
“We can’t use our lights [on Chesapeake]- if we had switched them on it would have
indicated that we had a brake failure: upon
seeing our lights on, flight deck personnel
would instantly throw tie-down chains below
our wheels to bring the aircraft to a halt,
using them as improvised wheel chocks.”
Tactically, the scenarios designed by French
and US pilots were challenging: “In the air-
to-air role, we carried out 4-v-4 and 6-v-8 air
combats from NAS Oceana,” revealed the
Flottille 17F CO. “On the USS Bush, we went
even further, performing 8-v-8 engagements.”
Commander Patrick Baker, VFA-213
‘Black Lions’ executive officer, commented:
“We’re here aboard the carrier to execute
complex air-to-air and air-to-surface
missions alongside the Rafales, carrying
out a wide range of missions using a
common Link 16 data link network. All in
all, it’s been a very smooth integration.”
Eyes of the fl eet
The exercise saw the single Flottille 4F E-2C
Hawkeye integrated within Carrier Airborne
Early Warning Squadron (VAW) 124 ‘Bear
Aces’. According to the French unit’s CO,
“Flottille 4F is constantly progressing in
the field of interoperability. Here, we’ve
proved we’re at the same level as our
American friends in all domains – for carrier
operations, including carrier landings,
and tactically, for combat operations.
“We’ve logged a large number of sorties,
controlling Rafales and Super Hornets that
were fighting each other, or flying as mixed
formations. We often had two Hawkeyes –
French and US – flying at the same time, one
controlling the Blues and the other the Reds.
“All 90 Flottille 4F personnel have participated
in the deployment, including six pilots and
nine sensor operators, taking into account
reinforcements from the French carrier air
wing command structure. All our pilots have
been requalified in daylight carrier landings,
and three in night-time carrier operations.”
According to Flottille 4F’s operations officer,
the missions flown by US and French aircraft
were highly realistic. “For example, we were
tasked to perform a combat search andIFLOLS
While aboard USS George H W Bush, French
pilots had the opportunity to train again with the
Improved Fresnel Lens Optical Landing System
(IFLOLS), which is now the standard equipment on
US carriers to give pilots glide path information
in the terminal phase of the landing approach.
Most French pilots had already experienced
IFLOLS when training on the T-45 at NAS
Meridian, Mississippi, and on various flat-tops
during their carrier qualifications (carquals).
The IFLOLS, first installed on USS George Washington
(CVN 73) in 1997, has equipped all US carriers since
2004, and was added to the Charles de Gaulle during
her 2017-18 refit – replacing the French-designed
OP3 (Optique Principale de 3ème Génération; third-
generation main optical landing system), which had
become increasingly difficult to support and maintain.
“Compared to the OP3, the IFLOLS proves more
precise and more user-friendly,” the commander
of the French carrier air group told AFM.
“It has more lenses than the OP3 and the glide
path information provided is easier to follow and
understand. We’ve also purchased mobile IFLOLS for
field carrier practices at Landivisiau and Lann-Bihoué.”
The IFLOLS array on the USS ‘Bush’. The
system has also been retrofi tted to the
‘Charles de Gaulle’.
A VAQ-131 ‘Lancers’ EA-18G Growler performs a touch-and-go during carrier qualifi cations.A Rafale comes in to land on USS ‘Bush’ while
two more are readied for yet another training
mission. The deployment included the fi rst
Rafale landing by a US Navy exchange pilot on a
US carrier.