targets while the AWIC students defend
against them.’
Augmenting the red team were Hawk
Mk127s from the RAAF’s No 76 Squadron
and two Alpha Jets from Top Aces,
both based at Williamtown. The latter
company is servicing the remainder of a
two-year trial contract awarded by the
RAAF in 2017 to investigate contracted
adversary air services.
Two B-52Hs assigned to the 23rd
Expeditionary Bomber Squadron (EBS)
from the 5th Bomb Wing were also
involved. These ew from Darwin, also
as part of the ‘Red Air’ element.Flt Lt Brice ‘Wooly’, a RAAF Hornet pilot
and AWIC candidate said, ‘Probably the
biggest lesson we learned working with
the 18th AGRS was about integration.
The challenges they have provided have
been extremely di cult to solve, and
there’s no way any individual or one
platform could solve them, so we need
to work as a team to overcome those.’‘Diamond Storm’
Having concluded the DCA portion of
the course, AWIC candidates were put
through another round of academics
before the nal phase of the course— ‘Diamond Storm’. Held in May, this
OCA-focused section was conducted
from Darwin and Tindal in Australia’s
‘Top End’, with missions own over the
large Delamere and Bradshaw ranges.
This time, US support came in the form
of eight F-15Cs operated by the 194th
FS, California Air National Guard, and
the pair of B-52Hs from the 23rd EBS,
together with MV-22B Ospreys and
AH-1Z Vipers from the USMC’s Marine
Rotational Force-Darwin (MRF-D),
which had just arrived for its annual
six-month rotation. Unlike ‘Diamond
Shield’, the American assets ew in
both ‘Red’ and ‘Blue Air’.
The nal graduation capstone event
was ‘Dawn Strike’. As the sun rose on
May 31, a massive package of nearly 40
RAAF fast jets and support assets
launched a strike on Williamtown while
fending o local defenders. It’s a
well-known and hugely respected nal
hurdle towards becoming an RAAF
‘patch-wearer’ at the culmination of the
second successful AWIC.Above: AWIC
candidates in
‘Classic’ and
Super Hornets
poised to depart
Williamtown for a
‘Diamond Shield’
sortie.
Below left: RAAF
EA-18Gs from
No 6 Squadron
provided
electronic warfare
support to both
‘Red’ and ‘Blue
Air’ teams.
Below: Painted in
a tiger scheme
to mark the RAAF
2 Operational
Conversion Unit’s
fi nal year of
‘Classic’ Hornet
operations, serial
A21-116 taxies at
RAAFB Darwin,
loaded with
GBU-38 Joint
Direct Attack
Munitions and a
GBU-12 on the
far wing.EXERCISE REPORT // ‘DIAMOND SHIELD’
80 August 2019 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net
78-80 Diamond Shield C.indd 80 20/06/2019 22:37