By FGOFF Jamin Baker and CPL John Maiava
Exercise Anti-Submarine Warfare 09 (ASWEX09) was a three week Anti Submarine Warfare exercise involving the Australian and New Zealand military forces. It was conducted off the coast of West Australia and based out of Royal Australian Air Force Base Pearce (one hour north of Perth).
The aim of the Exercise was to practice and evaluate collective anti-submarine warfare concepts, tactics and procedures in order to improve ASW effectiveness. Further, with the use of the Australian underwater tracking range, it meant the Royal New Zealand Air Force could achieve training in loading, arming and dropping practice of MK-46 torpedoes.
Two crews of new ‘D Cats’ (DCs)—fresh acoustic and electronic warfare operators—and experienced instructors deployed on a C-130 Hercules and P3-K Orion bound for Western Australia; keen to improve their own personal skills and integrate well within the crew environment. With the DC course only a month away, it was important that the new DCs on each crew got as much as they could out of this exercise, as well as experiencing the life of ‘Fighting Five’ on detachment.
The flying started off with gorgeous Perth weather. Both the aircraft and equipment performed well, and we were straight into the game as the warships were waiting for us off the West Coast. The radios proved to be more challenging than we DCs had predicted. The new operating environment led to confusion as to who was doing what, when, and how. By the end of the first flight we knew we had a lot to improve on—individually and as a crew.
Each flight alternated between day and night, which made it difficult to continuously adjust our sleeping patterns. The next flight—a night flight—saw extreme weather and thunderstorms, which tested and proved a challenge for junior radar operators. Unfortunately, this flight didn’t last long as smoke and fumes that could not be rectified sent us back to Base and cut the flight short.
Flying in the first week for both crews was consolidation against an Expendable Mobile Anti-Submarine Warfare Training Target. This allowed crews to practice procedures and conduct coordinated operations with both the Royal Australian Navy and Royal New Zealand Navy warships, and other air assets; with the hope of tracking a real submarine the next week.
Every flight provided some valuable training, especially for the young DCs and new specialised operators. A torpedo was successfully dropped—to the excitement of Crew 3—so by the end of the exercise significant training aims had been achieved and relations with the Australian Defence Force continued. An enjoyable and challenging Exercise was had by all.