Small force, big impact

CAF talks with members of No. 75 Squadron

By CPL Sean Burton

Punching well above their weight was how Chief of Air Force Air Marshal Angus Houston described the contribution of Air Force personnel to Operation Falconer after a recent visit to the MEAO.

“I’m very impressed and I’m over the moon with the performance of our people,” AIRMSHL Houston said.

During his visit, CAF, who was accompanied by WOFF RAAF Peter Hall, acknowledged and thanked as many Air Force personnel as possible for their outstanding work over the past three months.

“My lasting impression is that they are totally committed, dedicated, fully professional and were performing at a level that was impressing both our Coalition partners,” he said.

While the Air Force contingent comprised about 630 personnel among a Coalition force of around 300,000, its contribution was notable.

“Everywhere you look they are greatly respected, including by the Coalition leader, in the way we have contributed out of all proportion to our numbers deployed,”
AIRMSHL Houston said.

“I still think there is some more work to do to make us better next time round but what I saw during the last few days was truly outstanding, they’ve done a great job.

“What I saw in the MEAO was professionalism and team-work which made me very proud of the Air Force.”

Although arrangements are being made to bring the F/A-18s home by mid-May, he said there was still work to be done.

“The C-130s are very useful not only in the war-fighting support role but also in the new phase of operations where we will get involved in the reconstruction of Iraq,” he said. “So they will be there for a while, I anticipate that the C-130s will continue to be useful for a long time to come. The P-3s were committed for 12 months and until Government makes a decision to the contrary I will anticipate there will be plenty of work for them.”

AIRMSHL Houston said a legacy of Operation Falconer for Air Force would be its ability to provide a niche capability to coalitions.

“If you have a look at every capability we have provided from imagery analysts to the squadron of F/A-18s, it has demonstrated that not only can we provide a very useful capability but one that is as good as any other nation’s.

“All our people, from the CAOCs, the IAs, the C-130s, the P-3Cs or F/A18s have punched well above their weight.”
With Operation Baghdad Assist under way, AIRMSHL Houston said participation in humanitarian operations was an entrenched part of the Air Force’s history.

“We’ve been doing humanitarian operations for the last 82 years. If you go back 50 years to the Berlin Airlift that was a humanitarian operation as well as a very important military one, which had enormous political consequences.
Others have included Darwin’s Cyclone Tracy and the PNG tsunami.

“Our C-130s have been involved in every ADF operation for the last 20 years.”

He said that Operation Falconer had validated the Air Force vision for a truly expeditionary Air Force. “We are an expeditionary Air Force for the defence of Australia but we also need to be an expeditionary Air Force for something like Operation Falconer,” he said. “If you look at the latest strategic review it refers to the fact that in the future, it’s less likely we will be defending Australia and it’s more likely that we will be involved in coalitions such as this one.”

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