Earning their stripes

Tiger force: Capt John Rowell, 1 Avn Regt, with Tiger 002 in a hangar at Oakey. A Kiowa pilot, he will become 162 Recce Sqn’s adjutant next year. Photo by Lt Simone Heyer

By Lt Simone Heyer

CROUCHED in the centre of a huge hangar behind the locked aviation gates at Oakey is the imposing figure of Tiger Army 002.

It may be still, but plenty is happening as plans continue apace to prepare for the introduction of the Armed Reconnaissance Helicopters into service in 2007.

162 Recce Sqn CO designate Lt-Col Andrew Jones said pilot training was under way to man the sophisticated flying system.

Three pilot instructors are undergoing training at Eurocopter’s base, and the Franco/German Tiger School, in France, with the first due home in August.

“Flying instructors are completing their training and will do individual training next year,” Lt-Col Jones said.

Tiger pilots are expected to come from serving aircrew, but Lt-Col Jones said there would be a gradual introduction of pilots new to the service to boost the numbers.

He said pilots would be chosen for their tactical acumen, ability to learn quickly and common sense. They will be trained on the Kiowa, one of the aircraft they will replace, then on the ARH.

As the Tiger’s platform is quite different from other helicopters in service, Lt-Col Jones said that pilots had a lot to take into account.

“With the amount of information presented to aircrew, the increase in technology is unprecedented,” Lt-Col Jones said.

“Tandem seat instruction is new to the Army and with the complexity of the aircraft it will be a difficult start. We’ll be going slowly and safely, getting more complex in our operations as we mature the capability.

“We expect a squadron’s worth of trained personnel by mid-2007, with the entire regiment ready for operations later in 2010.

“There’s six months of pilot training, 12 to 18 months in the regiment, then a sixmonth course for battle captain positions.”

The first technician’s course begins next month.

Lt-Col Jones said 400 people would make up the mature stage manning, comprising two flying squadrons, Logistic Support Squadron containing three Forward Arming and Refuelling Points (FARPs), tech support and HQ.

He is excited about the ARH’s potential, but said there was a lot of work to be done to get it into service.

“There is significant work being done by people all over the world to bring this aircraft and it’s supporting systems into service. The next significant activity is gaining the Australian Military Type Certificate, which will allow us to commence training Land Command aircrew,” he said. “We’re required to sit a board to ensure readiness from both a technical and operational point of view.”

He said DSTO was heavily involved with air evaluation, with a number of experiments undertaken.

With evaluation and training on its way, movement of the squadron to Darwin is going to plan. Lt-Col Jones said that new facilities were nearly complete and the move of the regiment would take place over the next few months. 162 Recce Sqn would be in Robertson Barracks early in the new year. He said the recent first stage of the Hellfire missile testing was just as expected. It was highly successful ... it was dead on,” he said.