Students on target

Some practical experience for students on the Weapons Theory Course at RAAF Base Williamtown as they are treated to a close-up inspection of an F/A-18 Hornet cannon. Photos by LACW Veronica McKenna

Flight Lieutenant Brad Machan shows Army pilot Captain Hamish Felton-Taylor, of 161 Recce Squadron, a laser-guided bomb.

WHILE the prospect of a week of lectures and three exams might not inspire most of us, for the 16 students of 06/03 Weapons Theory Course that was the reality of their first instalment of Weapons Employment Course (WEC) training at RAAF Base Williamtown.

Air Force and Army aircrew and intelligence staff from as far afield as Darwin and Perth completed the course from October 6-10.

It is the third time the Army has fielded members for the course which aims to ramp up their capabilities for the introduction of the Tiger helicopter.

“A weapon or weapons system is only as smart as its operator; our business is to make sure we’re always smarter,” said FLTLT Brad Machan of Weapons Systems Flight (WSFLT), School of Air Navigation, RAAF Base East Sale.

“We deliver uniformly trained weapons graduates to the ADO to make sure those involved in weapons – be it aircrew, engineers, intelligence officers, analysts or scientists – have a solid grounding in weapon systems operation, effects, capabilities, limitations and future trends. The outcome for Defence is maximum bang for buck when we acquire or use our weapons stocks.”

Students of the Weapons Theory Course studied core subject areas of weapons effects, weapon delivery and guided weapons.

WSFLT now offers three postgraduate weapons courses – Weapons Theory, Weaponeering Basic and Weaponeering Advanced.

Historically the Weapons Employment Course ran at RAAF Base East Sale for a five-week period but this presented major problems for squadrons with operational aircrew flying currency. The course restructuring means now only the last two course modules are taught at East Sale.

Accordingly the maximum continuous time a student will be involved in WEC training is three weeks. This will, in most cases, allow aircrew to remain operationally current on return to their squadron.

The course is designed with aircrew in mind. However, instructor Flight Lieutenant Aaron Downs said, "Non-aircrew should not underestimate the value of the course to their employment in weapons related positions."

FLTLT Machan said supporting elements made a substantial contribution to the quality of the course. "We had fantastic support from other units at Williamtown such as Surveillance and Control Training Unit and the No. 77 Squadron ‘gunnies’. This is indicative of the support an ‘away’ WEC course receives."

If your role does, or will shortly, require a knowledge of weapon systems you can obtain further details of the course or content and requirements online (on the Defence Intranet) at http://defweb.cbr.defence.gov.au/raafweb/Sites/SAN/ or by contacting Flight Lieutenant Grant Fifield on (03) 5146 6456.

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