[things] much the same way as far as
training and operating the squadron,
so the transition is not that hard.’
One thing Scha elhofer took away
from the exercise was that language
was not as big a barrier as some might
have thought. ‘No matter the di erent
accents of participants, the procedures
are all the same, so if you stick to the
procedures and checklists then you
can get the job done. As a CAS asset
you never know what you are getting
into, so you have to protect the troops
on the ground because CAS is not
really planned — you just have to get
the job done.’
Taking the lessons home
For a training squadron, taking
the ‘Ample Strike’ experience back
to Tucson was a key factor. ‘As an
instructor pilot at an exercise like this, I
appreciate the creativity that went into
making these challenging scenarios
and it’s a lot of fun to work through
the situations with the JTAC teams that
are here,’ said Dowd. Back in Tucson,
he said he would focus on building the
core skills of the students as they gain
experience in the F-16. ‘We teach the
CAS part of the F-16 syllabus near the
end of a student’s training, which takes
about eight months in Tucson. Since
they have own the F-16 for several
months when they begin training for
CAS, we can increase the complexity of
their missions. I know what that pilot
Above:
A multi-national
team of JTACs
at work during
‘Ample Strike’.
This image:
An echelon of
Arizona ‘Vipers’
over the Czech
Republic.needs to see and I know how much is
too much for my student to handle. This
exercise helps me develop new scenarios
that emphasize the skills the student will
need in a real-world mission.
‘The second thing this exercise did for
me was allow me to talk with students at
a more realistic level. One of the things
we hear from them is that they love to
hear the stories of what the instructors
have seen over their careers.’
During the two-week exercise, the
195th ew 57 CAS missions out of the
377 that were completed in the exercise
overall. That accounted for more than
100 hours in the air over the Czech
Republic, where the squadron simulated
over 200 targets destroyed.As tensions with Russia run high,
squadrons like the ‘Warhawks’ are
nding themselves in the European
theater with far greater regularity.
Indeed, shortly after ‘Ample Strike’
ended F-15C Eagles from the 144th
FW, California ANG, arrived in Ukraine
to participate in exercise ‘Clear Sky
2018’. The US military is increasingly
committed to Europe as it tightens old
bonds and forms new ones through
participation in exercises such as
‘Ample Strike’.Acknowledgements: The author wishes to thank
the Czech Ministry of Defense, the Arizona ANG
and public affairs offi cers, plus Maj Dowd and Maj
Charters of the 162nd Fighter Wing.http://www.combataircraft.net // December 2018 67