26 NEWS 19 January 2016 | THE NATIONALIST Carlow GP Dr Declan Woods has had a lifelong interest in military aviation and photography. He has travelled the world to both capture the images and see at first hand the enormous technological advances behind these extraordinary aircraft. The Mullingar native has run a medical practice in Carlow since 1980. His surgery is located at Shamrock Plaza, Carlow and he lives in Oak Park. In this article, Dr Woods takes a look at the US Air Force’s tactics in the and recent NATO manoeuvres in Turkish delight as Eagle flies high

LOCATED at the control of the skies North Vietnamese ppiilloottss Turkish Air Force’s over the north of that were llikikely ttoo rreettuurrnn A Turkish Air Force F-4E 2020 111 Filo based at Eskisehir third main jet base in country. US Navy pilots to tthheieir ssqquuadadrroonnss.. Konya, central Turkey, had recorded success Somewhere aalonlong tthhee the Anatolian Eagle rates of 15:1 against line, ccrruucialcial lleessssoonnss hhaadd Training Centre (AETC) the Japanese in the been lloosstt aanndd aannsswweerrss organises and hosts Pacifi c and their Air were nneeededed. the Andolu Kartali Force counterparts had In 11996688,, tthhee US (Anatolian Eagle) series recorded rates of 7.5:1 Navy ccoommmimissioned of live exercises for fl ying F-86 Sabre jets an iinvenvestigation, fi ghter pilots from many against Communist Mig which iissssuueedd tthhee nnooww counties. 15s of similar capability. famous Ault RReeppoorrtt. The AETC includes By comparison, And iitt ddididnn’’tt ppuullll aannyy a dedicated ramp and America’s tactical punches. OOnnee ooff iittss purpose-built facil- performance over North main rrecoecommendations ities for planning, Vietnam was abysmal, was a ccaallll ffoorr mmoorree briefi ng, command at times sinking to realistic aaiirr--ccoommbbaatt and control and the 1:1 in certain engage- training, aanndd mmaanyny various other functions ments during 1968. This US senior associated with the was more remarkable exercises. Anatolian when one considers the Eagle has become expense and sophisti- the premier training cation of the aircraft, commanders eexxpprreessssllyy exercise of the Turkish weapons and pilot forbade tthhee pprraacctitice Air Force. Because of training on the US of ddooggfifi ghting, eevveenn the numbers of aircraft side compared with during ttiimmeess ooff wwaarr environment aanndd ssoo the wwaarr’’ss eendnd. EEvveenn-- this iinn mmiinndd,, oobbseservers by hihigghlhly-trained anandd involved, the diversity the North Vietnamese because ooff tthhee aassssoo-- give tthhee ppiilloott tthhee eeqquuiivv-- tually, tthhee eerrrroorrss were sseenntt ttoo Red FFllaagg motivated peperrssoonnnneell.. of international partic- reliance primarily on ciated iinnccrreeaasseedd rriisksk alent ooff hhiiss fi rrsstt tteenn were rrecoecognised aanndd exercises aatt NNeelllilis AAFFBB Anatolian EaEagglele ipants and access to subsonic, 20-year-old of lloossiinngg aaiirrccrraafftt aanndd combat mmiissssiionons, tthhuuss Exercise RReedd FFllaagg in NNevevada aanndd TTuurrkkeeyy exercises strivstrivee toto 120,000 square kilo- design Mig 17s, plus pilots. reducing tthhee rriisksk ooff wawass eessttaabblliisshedhed iinn participated ffoorr tthhee provide anan enenvviirroonn-- metres of unrestricted a handful of super- CaCappttaainin AAuulltt rrececoomm-- being sshohot ddowown. 1975. TThhiiss wwaass eesssseenn-- fi rst ttiimmee wwiitthh ssiixx FF--1166 ment ththaatt isis asas clcloossee air space, it has gained sonic but mediocre Mig menmenddeedd tthhee eessttaabb-- A cclalass ffoorr NNavavy tially ssiimilarmilar ttoo tthhee fi ghters iinn 11999977.. WiWitthh to rereaall wawarr asas popossssiibbllee.. a reputation as one 21s. The world’s most lishment ooff a fi gghhteter fi ghter ccrreewwss ttoo ppeerrffecect Navy FFiigghhteter WWeeaappoonnss the exexppeerriiencence gagainined The basbasiicc scsceennaarriioo of the world’s leading powerful air armada pilot’s ggrraaduduaatete sscchhooooll,, ACM wwaass eessttaabblliisshehed iinn School ((TToopp GGuunn)).. in ththeesese exexeerrcciisseses, consisnsists ofof anan atatttaacckk fi ghter aircraft training frequently found itself providing the equivalent 1969. This later became Both the Navy and involvement in internal by ‘blue’ forces, events. Outside North humbled in dogfights of a master’s degree ‘Top Gun’, which, with USAF have continued security operations, and usually consisting of America, it would with what was regarded in air combat manoeu- some poetic licence, these programmes the Bosnia and Kosovo Turkish and interna- certainly appear to be as a ‘peasant’-based air vring (ACM) and was portrayed in the to the present day. In wars, the Turkish Air tional squadrons, with the leading exercise of force. weapons usage. Ideally, fi lm of the same name. 1978, a similar exercise Force was in a position combined air opera- its kind. No country, not even this would be against As a direct result of this was established by to offer training to its tions on tactical and the United States of dissimilar aircraft-flying action, US Navy losses at Cold Lake international partners strategic targets in America, could afford enemy tactics. It was dropped and success Air Force Base, Alberta. and allies, with the fi rst ‘red’ land, which is ORIGINS to continue trading also realised (by the rates improved. By the Anatolian Eagle Anatolian Eagle exercise defended by fi ghter Despite a history of expensive fi ghter Air Force) that once a end of the war in 1973, continues the process taking place in 2001. aircraft and simulated overwhelming success aircraft and valuable pilot had completed ten the US Navy kill-to-loss started more than 40 Turkey’s geopolit- surface-to-air missiles. in World War II and aircrews on a 1:1 basis, combat missions his ratio had increased to years ago. ical position, between The exercises are high- the Korean War, US particularly when the chance of completing 12:1. Europe and Asia, its tech, highly computer- fi ghter pilots in the early US crews were likely to his tour of duty rose The US Air Force, proximity to the major ised and sophisticated. years of the Vietnam become prisoners of dramatically. These however, had a HISTORY OF energy sources of the The command and War found themselves war after bailing out of courses were designed continuing poor ANATOLIAN EAGLE world and its legacy of control centre observes losing the battle for their aircraft, whereas to simulate a wartime air-to-air record until being NATO’s eastern all participants through From ththee eaearrllyy 191980s,80s, bulwark agagaaininst ththee air cocommbbaatt mamannooeeuu-- the TuTurrkkiisshh AiAirr FoForrccee Soviet UnUniionon havhave vring ininsstrutrummeennttaattiionon Turkish Air Force F-16C 141 Filo, based at Ankara. adopted a pphhililosophy ofof resulted inin itit havhavinging ononee (ACMI) podpods cacarrrriieedd A USAF F-15C takes off in the background ‘no mamatttteerr hohoww momoddeerrnn of ththee woworrlldd’’ss lalarrggeesstt externally byby ththee fi ghter the weweaappoonsns araree,, itit air foforrcceess.. ThThiiss foforrccee aircraft ththrroouugghh ththee is ththee memenn whwhoo ususee is momoddeerrnn anandd welwell AWAC aiairrccrraafftt anandd them ththaatt cocouunnttss’’.. WiWitthh equipped, mamannnneedd also ththrroouugghh lanland

A US Air Force F-15C from the 483rd Fighter , based at RAF Lakenheath, England THE NATIONALIST | 19 January 2016 NEWS 27

radars. This allows for The stated aims of AE extremely accurate 2015/1 were: a 15, based at Zaragoza A Spanish Air Force EF-18M, Al post-mission debriefs Improving the capa- and precise analysis of bilities of international all missions fl own. elements in daytime Countries sending joint operations and detachments to also improving their Anatolian Eagle do mutual support capa- so at significant cost bility and therefore expect Enhancing training a good return on their levels of participants investment. To date, 14 by providing a realistic countries have attended operational environ- AE exercises and most ment within a generic of these have been scenario, from simple to complex. TThhiiss iinncclluuddeess planannnining aanndd eexxeeccuuttiinngg combined aaiirr ooppeerraattiionons against wwelell-defended targets deployed 12 F-15 fi ghter Turkish Air Force 123rd Providing ooppppoorrttuunniittyy aircraft from the 48th Weapons and Tactics ��� �� �� ������ �� �������� to ttrryy nnewew ttaaccttiiccss aanndd Fighter Wing from RAF Squadron said Anatolian techniques. Lakenheath in England. Eagle presents realistic They fl ew a total of training environments 72 sorties (122 fl ying for allied and partner hours) and were accom- nations with similar panied by approxi- practices and doctrines. mately 250 personnel. “Recent woperations Lt Colonel John show that close co-or- Stratton, 493rd Fighter dination and precise Squadron commander, communication is said the large-force very important in the training was similar to execution of the opera- Red Flag: “It increases tional plan,” he said. our inter-operability The Turkish Air Force because it gives our is a modern, sophisti- pilots a chance to come cated organisation. The eexxeerrcciissee uusseedd together, to mission It has state-of-the-art repeat ppaarrttiicciippaannttss.. the ttriried-and-tested plan, brief, execute aircraft and equipment formula ooff a ‘‘bblluuee’’ and debrief. We can with highly trained and team aattttaacckkiinngg ttaarrggeettss see what works and motivated aircrew and ANATOLIAN EAGLE defended bbyy tthhee ‘‘rreded’ what doesn’t in a joint support personnel. JUNE 2015 team, pprroovviididing a coalition setting, so It has shown itself robust aanndd aaggggres- we know how well we capable of accom- ���� �� ������� �������� ����� ���� ��� ��� ��� �� ��� ������� This exexeerrcciissee ttooookk sive aaddvverersary ffoorrccee.. are going to be able to plishing a wide variety ������� ����� ������� ���� ������ �������������������� ����� ����������������� place bebettwweeeenn 8-8-1199 Air-to-air rreeffuueelllinling wwaass execute in any future of missions and ��� ��� ���������� ����� ����� ������ �� ������ �������� �������� ������� June 20201155 inin KoKonnyyaa anandd providideedd bbyy LLuuffttwwaaffff e mission.” of passing on that attracted momorree ththaann (German AAiirr FFoorrccee)) Lt Colonel Abidin expertise to other air 100 fi ghghteter aiairrccrraafftt frfroomm A310 aanndd TTuurrkkiisshh AAiirr Tanrisever of the forces. the hohosstt nanattiionon,, USA, Force KKCC--113355 ttaanknkers. Britain, , Airborne warning and and . Here, control capability was Acknowledgements: the ve special thanks to East met West and provided by Turkish Air I would like to gi ian rtment of the Anatol offered a rare oppor- Force Boeing 737-7ES public affairs depa Jet re at Konya 3rd Main Eagle Training Cent blic tunity for interaction Peace Eagle and NATO masterclasses in pu se. They could give ������� between squadrons Boeing E-3 Sentry Ba traordinary insight tions and have an ex which, in the normal aircraft. rela other needs of �������� e photographic and course of events, would The United States into th it the exercise. o were invited to vis ������� never meet. Air Force in Europe those wh ������������ ���� ����� An evocative scene from Konya as a 171 Filo F-4E returns from a mission

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