BFM [basic fighter manoeuvres – dogfighting].
Then you’ll get a little Red Air course, kind of
learning how to build the [threat] presentation.
Then we do it again, but instead of being the
student, you’re the instructor, and you’re in the
instructor role, so you’re teaching people how to
do everything, while you are still being evaluated.
“The final portion is then being the overall
red lead, for a large element, such as SFARP,
air wing, or something like that. We might
have 12 airplanes on the red side, and it’s your
goal to create the game plan, and make sure
everyone is deconflicted, and run it overall.
“You might have an opportunity to go
through the TOPGUN adversary course here
at VFC-13. If you do the course, you are an
F-5 student over there and you learn how
to become a Red Air player – to become an
overall better presenter for the red side.”
Even though the ‘Saints’ are the only true
adversary unit at NAS Fallon, they are not the
only adversaries at their home base, as they
work closely with NAWDC and its F-16 and
F/A-18 adversaries, as part of a joint Red Air
presentation. LT Corky illustrated how this
joint venture works: “When you have the red
lead, you’ve got all the adversaries and it’s
your goal to figure out how you want to use
them. You want the F-5s here, the F-16s here
and the F/A-18s here, and this is what they are
going to do. You have the ability to use them,
however you see fit, and how it works best.”
You will usually have to have had at least
one deployment before becoming an
instructor pilot. This ensures the instructor
has real-world experience before providing
their fellow naval aviators with scenarios
that are as close to reality as possible,
in the form of adversary training.
LT Corky continued: “By having at least one
deployment under our belt, we now have all
that basic experience as an instructor and
we are just becoming more experienced
instructors and pilots. Keep in mind, this is
the viewpoint of a guy who has just come out
of the fleet. If we talk with one of the older
guys, who have probably flown the F-5 for
ten years now, their experience level is off the
chart, compared to myself. They know the
F-5 so well that they can take the aircraft to
an extreme level of what it’s capable of and
really show the F/A-18 guys what someone
who’s really experienced can do – in an aircraft
that’s underpowered in comparison to the
F/A-18, doesn’t turn as well and is slower and
smaller, less capable and doesn’t have the
radar, the engines or the thrust! However, if it’s
flown well, then it can really demonstrate the
experience that some of the guys here have.”
LT Corky concluded with his impressions of life
as a pilot with the ‘Saints’: “It’s fun – it’s a unique
experience, just being able to go out there, fly
the F-5. You can fly to your max every day if
you want. We have the opportunities to either
go fast and turn the electronic attack on and jam
the guys, or fly BFM with the F/A-18, or another
F-5, and that’s really a fun experience.”Acknowledgements:
thanks to the ‘Saints’ for their hospitality
and, in particular, LT Justin ‘Corky’ Pace
and NAS Fallon PAO, Mr Zip Upham,
for making this article possible.AFM50 // JANUARY 2018 #358 http://www.airforcesmonthly.comVFC-13