Australia’s
premier spot to drop bombs
Corporal
Simone Liebelt
I THOUGHT Delamere air weapons range was just a big patch of dirt
in the middle of nowhere, home to millions of bomb fragments.
I was partly right, but what I didn’t realise was that it
was actually home to a permanent Air Force detachment – eight
members from No. 322 Combat Support Squadron who manage it around
the clock.
There were many things about Delamere I didn’t know, which
wasn’t surprising considering it’s arguably the most
remote Air Force posting in Australia.
A day trip out there soon solved that problem.
The leader of the detachment – Range Safety Officer, Squadron
Leader Howard Robertson – introduced me to the world of Delamere
from the comfort of his bush control tower.
It’s not often the view from a control tower is scrub instead
of tarmac.
I arrived just in time to see him in action, as he directed a
pair of US Marine Hornets on to the range in a radio language
I didn’t understand. I then watched with interest as the
jets fired bullets at a row of banners a few kilometres ahead.
The targets were scored, and then the Hornets left the range.
It was obvious as soon as we start talking that the reservist
Squadron Leader loved his job.
“I was a bush kid,” he told me, “so I’ve always
liked working in the country and I’ve always loved aircraft
– this job has given me the opportunity to work with aircraft,
to be in the bush and to do something to help the country.
“As Range Safety Officer, I’m responsible for the safety
of the people on the ground within the confines of the Range,
and provide the interface between them and the aircraft dropping
bombs.
“I need to make sure everyone on the ground is safely accounted
for before I can clear the aircraft to release ordnance or fire
lasers.
“Delamere is undoubtedly the premier air weapons range in
Australia; all Aussie aircrew as well as visiting ones acknowledge
that. The fact that we can provide the facilities we do and have
virtually unrestricted airspace provides terrific training value
for them.”
“We’re totally surrounded by cattle properties and there’s
no major air routes that come through here, so strike aircraft
have a freedom to practice tactics that is not readily available
elsewhere,” he said.
“They’ve got 200,000 hectares of ground space out here
and we get a clearance in airspace to 60,000 feet so aircraft
can operate fully within those confines.
“For the US Marines [on Exercise Southern Frontier], who
haven’t dropped [F/A-18] bombs for a while, they come and
do some dummy passes initially, then go on to using practice bombs
and culminate in dropping high explosives.
Gunnery with the aircraft’s 20mm cannon is also an added
dimension.”
He told me Delamere had two practice ranges for rockets, guns
and practice bombs, a high explosive range, a large mass inert
weapon range, a simulated airfield complex and “Tac Town”,
which is a township constructed from shipping containers.
“From the air, Tac Town looks like a township and the different
buildings simulate different roles,” he explained.
“There’s a special forces headquarters, a school, a
church, a power generator and a Town Hall; so it forces crews
to plan a mission just as if they were attacking an enemy town,
and having to consider all the rules of engagement implications.
“Future directions for the range include a radar feed to
provide me with a greater level of awareness of aircraft positions
within the area, and a series of tactical ranges for use by the
Army’s Tiger helicopter when it comes into service. The Range
will only get better as time goes by.”
I took a tour of the compound, which included the tower, accommodation
and working facilities, then watched a bomb detonation demonstration
out on the range by the explosive ordnance technicians.
After a few laughs with the locals and US Marine visitors, I headed
back to RAAF Base Tindal – a lot wiser and much more interested
in what goes on up north.
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