By
Andrew Stackpool
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LAC
Craig Mawhinney straps BDUs for transport to an ordnance
loading area.
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Photo
by LAC Euan Grant
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FLTLT
Russell Mills, from No. 2 Operational Conversion Unit, prepares
for a mission.
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Photos
by CPL Kirk Peacock
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SIX
new jet pilots – including one each from the US Air Force
and the Royal Air Force – have graduated from No. 2 Operational
Conversion Unit’s Exercise High Sierra.
Some 200 personnel, 12 F/A-18s from 2OCU, eight Hawks from No.
76 Squadron, a B707 tanker from No. 33 Squadron and a PC-9 forward
air control aircraft deployed for the annual exercise, held at
RAAF Base Townsville from November 18 to December 8.
High Sierra comprised the last three weeks of the operational
conversion course for Air Force fast-jet pilots to qualify as
fighter pilots.
2OCU Commanding Officer Wing Commander Chris Huet, who is a postgraduate
of the course, said the exercise was the culmination of three
years’ intensive training.
“The six [out of eight] students who graduated showed that
they are capable of flying as solo wingmen on challenging war-like
missions. They have been awarded D Category on the Hornet –
a licence to continue learning and improving,” WGCDR Huet
said.
One of the graduates was a USAF Fighter Weapons Instructor while
another was an RAF F3 Tornado Qualified Weapons Instructor. The
USAF officer will now become an instructor at 2OCU and the RAF
pilot has been posted on exchange to No. 3 Squadron.
“The other students have been posted to Nos 3, 75 and 77
Squadrons as ‘bog rat knuckleheads’,” WGCDR Huet
said.
He said the students had the opportunity on the exercise to work
as a team and practise their procedures away from RAAF Base Williamtown.
“High Sierra puts the students in the roles they will fulfill
as D Category Hornet pilots in a squadron. They fly the majority
of the exercise missions as solo wingmen in two or four-ship formations,
dropping HE weapons in the opposed strike role. The exercise also
introduces them to deployed operations and operations in dispersed
ordnance loading areas,” he said.
The scenario involved a fictitious enemy whose air forces were
played by 2OCU Hornets and 76SQN Hawks. The scenario and intelligence
briefings were prepared and delivered by an intelligence officer
who also graduated with the fighter intelligence qualification.
Students conducted combat-profile missions, including mission
planning from an air tasking order, air-to-air refuelling, fighting
an air threat and releasing bombs on a ground target.
WGCDR Huet said the exercise had undergone some subtle changes
since he had been a student.
“These reflect the needs of No. 81 Wing and the likely missions
that our pilots will be involved in,” he said.
“Overall, though, the goal is the same: to produce world-class
fighter pilots who are only going to get better with time and
become leaders in their own right.”
