Exercise Swift Pirate proves to be a success
A training exercise at RAF Wittering involving three types of large transport aircraft has been hailed a success.
Flight Lieutenant Jamie Colmey, the officer commanding training and support for 1 Air Mobility Wing based at RAF Brize Norton, said Exercise Swift Pirate had achieved its goals.
The training exercise, which ran from Sunday, December 2 until Friday, December 7, saw various squadrons and transport aircraft including A400M Atlas, C130 Hercules and C17 Globemasters involved.
“All our training objectives were achieved,” said Flt Lt Colmey of the exercises.
“We now have 50 personnel that are ready to be deployed anywhere in the world.”
The aim of the exercise was to train Mobile Air Movements Squadron (MAMS) personnel in loading and off loading freight and passengers from aircraft.
It is the squadron’s job to carry out these vital functions wherever needed around the world.
The work is not necessarily limited to military activities, but could also involve humanitarian operations too.
“The exercise simulated a real world experience,” said Flt Lt Colmey.
“We had 50 personnel involved along with 10 directing staff who ran the exercise and monitored the training.”
He said there were two elements to the exercise - force protection, which covered guarding aspects of the base; and movement related skills.
“The movement related skills deal with the safe loading and unloading of an aircraft,” he said.
“We do this in various ways including while the aircraft still has its engines running.
“Safety is paramount at all times and the time it takes to load and unload an aircraft depends on several factors including the safety of the location, the environment in which we are operating and the type of cargo being loaded.”
He said this was the fourth time the exercise had been held at RAF Wittering.
“We’re very lucky with what Wittering offers and it’s great to have an airfield that has the capacity to stage these exercises.”
Flt Lt Colmey said the level of planning that went into moving cargo to various deployments around the world was “huge”.
“The more we practice the better we get that’s why it’s so important to have these training exercises,” he said.
Of the aircraft involved, the C130 Hercules is the RAF’s primary tactical transport aircraft.
It is frequently employed to operate into countries or regions where there is a threat to aircraft as its performance, tactics and defensive systems make it the ideal platform for such tasks.
The C-17 Globemaster is a longrange, heavy-lift strategic transport aircraft used in combat, peacekeeping or humanitarian missions worldwide.
It is able to transport 45,360kg of freight including large, complex items of equipment like Chinook helicopters, military vehicles and other heavy specialist items.
The Atlas has the ability to carry a 37 tonne payload to established and remote civilian and military airfields in addition to short unprepared or semi-prepared strips.