Airforces

and Standardisation Squadron (TACTESS) at

Leeuwarden played a leading role in organising

FWIT. Although the training courses were held

at various EPAF bases in the past – including

Skrydstrup in Denmark, Ørland in Norway and

Gilze-Rijen in the Netherlands – FWIT found a

permanent home at Leeuwarden in 1994. For

almost a decade, all FWIT flying was conducted

from this Dutch base. But since 2002 the final

phase has regularly been flown from other

airfields, specifically Ørland and Monte Real in

Portugal, to share the responsibility between

the participating countries. In the same year

the EPAF nations signed a memorandum

of understanding that enables maintenance

personnel to work on, and pilots to fly in, the

other nations’ aircraft. This makes it easier

to realise the required number of flying hours

with the limited assets available. EPAF nations

also agreed that, whenever possible, the

participating air force supplies an instructor

and an aircraft for each student sent to FWIT.

The RNLAF remains the largest F-16 operator

within the EPAF, although by a much smaller

margin since the RNLAF F-16 fleet was reduced

to less than half its size in a series of budget

cuts beginning in 2003. Consequently, the

RNLAF has traditionally required more WIs

than the other air forces. The Dutch therefore

held additional, national courses (Dutch

Weapons Instructor Courses, or DWICs)

in between FWITs from 1988 to 1999.

Knowledge transfer

This year’s FWIT was originally scheduled for

2016, but operational commitments within

the RNLAF F-16 community – in particular the

missions against so-called Islamic State (IS)

targets in Iraq and Syria flown until mid-2016

• led to the decision to postpone the course.
  In late October 2014, 323 TACTESS stood
  down as an F-16 squadron. However, it was
  re-established a few days later as 323 Test
  and Evaluation Squadron (TES), flying the
  two RNLAF F-35As acquired to participate
  in the multinational Operational Test and

Evaluation (OT&E) programme at Edwards

Air Force Base, California. The TACTESS

role was then taken over by 322 Squadron at

Leeuwarden and FWIT 2017 was, therefore,

the first course organised by this squadron.

This year’s course had a record-breaking

number of 16 students from all five EPAF

nations: five from the Netherlands, four from

Belgium, three from Norway and two each

from Denmark and Portugal. The demands

of FWIT mean not every EPAF pilot can

join it. Students usually have at least 1,000

flying hours on F-16s and are four-ship flight

leads. They also need to have the right skills

to transfer their knowledge to fellow pilots.

Candidates are selected at squadron level.

Another new development this year was the

fact that FWIT was held jointly with the first-

ever Transport Weapons Instructor Course

(TWIC), in which four C-130 Hercules pilots from

Eindhoven-based 336 Squadron were trained

to become WIs. The courses were partially

combined: the C-130 pilots attended academic

university

Kees van der Mark reports on

the prestigious Fighter Weapons

Instructor Training course from

Leeuwarden Air Base in the

Netherlands

http://www.airforcesmonthly.com #358 JANUARY 2018 // 61