A Sample Feature From Aviation News

Tornado Tactics – Honing skills with XV(R) Sqn Part 1

In the first of a two part feature, Aviation News’ Dino Carrara visits the largest fast jet squadron in the Royal Air Force, No XV(R), which provides trained Tornado GR.4 aircrew for the front-line. This remit requires a range of courses which vary in complexity. The opening feature looks at the training of pilots and weapons systems officers new to the Tornado.

Above: A specially-marked Tornado used by the XV(R) Sqn CO over the squadron’s RAF Lossiemouth base, with the town of the same name in the background; in the foreground below can be seen four visiting Hawk trainers. The aircraft wears the code ‘F’ and the name MacRobert’s Reply following a tradition from the Second World War when Lady MacRobert made a donation to purchase a Short Stirling bomber after the loss of her three sons while serving in the RAF. (Photo, Sgt Rick Brewell/RAF).

Below: An impressive line-up of XV(R) Sqn Tornado GR.4s at Lossiemouth. The squadron is the RAF’s largest fast jet unit with a fleet of 26 aircraft. (Photo, Av News - Dino Carrara).

Any visitor to RAF Lossiemouth, in the north of Scotland, cannot fail to notice the presence of the Tornado GR.4 Operational Conversion Unit (OCU), No 15(Reserve) Sqn, usually written as XV(R) Sqn, as on any given day there can be up to 20 of its aircraft parked in an impressive line-up on the western side of the base. This is the RAF’s largest fast jet unit and has as its main role the provision of aircrew for the front-line squadrons. This takes many forms from training new pilots to running courses for experienced aircrew to gain greater expertise and become weapons experts, for example. No XV(R) Sqn will be best known however for providing the aircraft and crew for the annual Tornado GR.4 display.

No XV(R) Sqn utilises the facilities once used by No 8 Sqn’s Shackletons and has a fleet of 26 Tornado GR.4s, ten to 12 of which will normally be twin-stick trainers. It has a complement of instructors made up of 26 pilots and 22 navigators, with approximately 30 students in residence at any one time. On top of this there is also 272 engineering and support staff which means that it is approximately twice the size of a typical front-line squadron.

The longest syllabus run by the squadron is the Main Course and consists of aircrew new to flying in the air force or personnel arriving for an exchange tour from an overseas air force which have not flown the type before. The ab-initio pilots arrive having completed their Advanced Flying Training at RAF Valley on the Hawk, while the weapons systems operators (WSO), prior to April last year, were classed as navigators and those who qualified before this date maintain the right to keep the title, will also have completed a course on this aircraft, but they will have undergone Fast Jet Navigation Training with No 100 Sqn at RAF Leeming. Five Main Courses are run each year consisting of six pilots and two navigators, with two underway at any one time. They last 23-weeks and involve around 60 hours in the air and are designed around a building block approach split into six phases. During this process the students can expect to drop approximately 100 practice bombs. Each training phase follows the same principle of a briefing, simulator work, which will include the practice of emergency procedures, and then flying.

Above: The room at the squadron with PCs and maps aplenty where students will meticulously plan their sorties while learning to master the Tornado GR.4. (Photo, Av News - Dino Carrara).

The course starts with five weeks of groundschool, which is run by Thales Training & Simulation, and includes 11 sessions in the simulator. Computer-based training packages are also used, while for the navigators there is a Navigational Systems Trainer. Before the aircrew can progress an exam has to be passed.

The next stage is the Convex Phase which lets the aircrew experience their first flight in a Tornado GR.4. At this point the pilots and WSOs are split with the former undertaking 12 sorties, which is slightly more than the back-seaters, in order to gain an instrument rating. The first eight of these trips for a pilot are flown with an instructor pilot in the back-seat of a twin-stick aircraft. These flights practice what has been covered in the simulator and involve learning the basics, such as starting up the aircraft, getting it airborne, low and medium level flight, circuits and emergency procedures. The trainee navigators fly with a staff pilot and practice radar work, flying low-level using the terrain following radar (TFR) and the myriad of systems they are responsible for. During this period a further simulator ride will be conducted for both sets of students.

Above: Tornado GR.4 ZA459/F with wings swept over the Scottish Highlands. RAF Lossiemouth in the north of Scotland is an ideal location for XV(R) Sqn’s training role due to the large amount of uncongested airspace, excellent low-flying environment and nearby weapons ranges at Tain and Garvie Island. (Photo, Sgt Jack Pritchard/RAF).

The Nav Phase

Both front and back-seaters undertake the Nav Phase which lasts two weeks and requires another visit to the simulator plus five flights. The students will learn the principles of navigation as well as the ability to re-route by going off the planned flightpath. These last two phases are flown as singletons and the overall aim is to get both pilot and wso comfortable with flying the aircraft and managing its systems. This part of the course is also noteworthy for the fact that it is at this point that a student crew will fly together for the first time.

Next is the Formation part of the course with one simulator ride and five sorties. This sees students performing pairs take-offs and landings, formating on the leader and learning three main formations. These are Battle, which is flown at low-level with the aircraft parallel to each other but between four to six kilometres apart, Fighter Wing which is used in poor weather and sees the second aircraft roughly 200 yards behind and slightly to the right of the leader, while Arrow formation is the same position as Fighter Wing but only 75 yards apart. In poor weather Close Arrow is less again to maintain visual contact. After completing the formation work almost every flight is flown as a multi-aircraft sortie.

The flying phases up to this point used to be conducted by the Tri-National Tornado Training Establishment (TTTE) at RAF Cottesmore, while the final two segments, Weapons and Advanced, were the remit of what used to be known as the Tornado Weapons Conversion Unit (TWCU) which for many years was based at RAF Honington. Since the disbandment of the TTTE, both it and the role of the TWCU have been amalgamated into XV(R) Sqn’s course with the result that it requires about 15% less time now as part of a single syllabus.

The penultimate part of the training as mentioned above is the Weapons Phase, in which the students learn to drop bombs using a variety of simulated attack profiles (SAP) from low and medium level. The types of technique taught are Lay Down (straight and level release) from between heights of 150ft to 15,000ft, Loft and Dive from 5° to 30°. The nearby Tain weapons range is used for this work as well firing the 27mm Mauser gun for ground strafing. Initial sorties for each technique will be flown with an instructor and then by a student crew. This period accounts for four weeks and requires three simulator slots and 12 sorties.

Only the delivery of ‘dumb’ weapons is taught as there is not the time to teach the use of laser-guided munitions and other advanced weapons and pods available to the GR.4, though some briefings are given. The use of night vision goggles and air-to-air tanking are taught by the front-line unit the student is posted to. Before moving on, two sorties are undertaken as a refresher of the Convex Phase to ensure the student is not forgetting information learned earlier.

The final part of the course is the six week long Advanced Phase which consists of three simulator sessions and 14 sorties. The students will have to bring together all they have learned, as well as choosing the correct weapon for a target, deciding the best attack profile for different situations and understand rules of engagement. Also, for the first time staff will select targets for SAPs which are not on the familiar surrounds of the Tain range. At this point, the first night sorties are flown, four for the pilot and three for navigators. Next are two air combat sorties involving a limited threat from an aggressor (played by another GR.4) to give the trainees confidence in manoeuvring the aircraft hard in a three-dimensional environment. After this some low-level evasion techniques are taught. By this point they will also be versed with some basic Electronic Warfare (EW) theory, having practiced it in the simulator and incorporated it into sorties and thus be able to evade a simple threat of this nature. To conclude the course a few check rides take place to test the all-round capability of the student. An assessment will also be written on the potential of each graduate to give the squadron they are posted to an insight into their new arrival.

The graduate will be Limited Combat Ready (LCR) and be able to fight the aircraft effectively and lead a pair at the same time and will also have experience of flying in four-ships. The skills taught by XV(R) Sqn to lead a pair is only the foundation level, as once with their new squadron they are unlikely to do this as they will go back over some of the work done at the OCU but in more detail, while also learning about more complex weapons and tactics. Only after about a year’s front-line flying will they be deemed to have the experience to lead a pair.

Above: The squadron makes extensive use of two new Tornado simulators at Lossiemouth operated under contract by Thales Training & Simulation. Unlike many simulators, these do not move, with only the screen providing images to indicate motion. (Photo, Thales Training & Simulation).

For the rest of this article please see the May 2004 issue.