Straits Times, Monday, 10 November 2003, reported that RSAF
Training Group in Cazaux, France will be using new high tech
satellite linked equipment in their dog-fight training, so as to
get immediate reviews of each individual's performance.
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/singapore/story/0,4386,219141-1068501540,00.html?
'Action replays' to get pilots up to
speed in dogfights
Singapore's trainee pilots in France will have access to device
that records their planes' positions in air battles for
review
By David Boey
TO TRAIN Singapore's fighter pilots better, an electronic device
that captures every position they take during mock air battles will
be introduced to their flight training in France from early next
year.
Called Air Combat Manoeuvring Instrumentation (ACMI) pods, they are
fitted under the wings of the warplanes to record, via satellite,
each fighter's location.
Later, at debriefings, trainees get a clear view of how well they
did in the mock air battle, especially when several fighters are
performing high-speed manoeuvres.
The pod is one of several devices the Republic of Singapore Air
Force (RSAF) is considering.
Said Lieutenant-Colonel Sim Kim Yong, Commander of 150 Squadron:
'We want to look at basic ACMI equipment like pods, antennas and
television monitors as debriefing tools. This will allow us to
conduct better debriefings.
'You can point out students' mistakes, their correct moves. From
there, they can visualise air combat manoeuvres a bit more
clearly.'
The training at Cazaux Air Base in south-west France involves Super
Skyhawk fighter-bombers: 16 single-seat A-4SU and double-seat
TA-4SU planes modified as advanced jet trainers.
The ACMI pods, which resemble air-to-air missiles, are hung on
weapons pylons under the wings of the Super Skyhawks.
Cazaux is where the RSAF trains its fighter pilots. About 150 RSAF
personnel are based there, including close to a dozen pilot
trainees.
These trainees stay between six and nine months before they
graduate as fighter pilots.
Before France, they receive their basic flight training on S.211
jet trainers in Australia, at the Royal Australian Air Force base
in Pearce, near Perth.
A posting in France is also available to full-time national
servicemen. Four of them are currently at Cazaux on a two-year
posting.
Apart from training, the detachment at Cazaux also allows Singapore
pilots to fly there for joint air defence exercises hosted by the
French Air Force with NATO air forces involving sometimes as many
as 17 European countries.
The 'extra' trainees receive in the Cazaux training programme is
exposure to a range of weather conditions and procedures used by
different air forces, said LTC Sim.
'For example, the air traffic controllers speak English but because
of the different accents, sometimes they don't understand what our
Singaporean pilots are saying. And sometimes we don't understand
the French speaking English.
'But over time, we get to know and understand and learn from each
other.'
Another plus is the vast training ranges over the Atlantic Ocean -
about 160km long and 65km wide - located just five minutes by air
from Cazaux.
This compares favourably to training over the South China Sea,
where about 30 per cent or 18 minutes of an hour's flight training
is spent reaching the training area.
Instructors at Cazaux also have the use of air-to-ground ranges
which allow trainees to fire the Skyhawk's 20mm cannon or attack
land-based targets with bombs. These ranges span an area about the
size of Ang Mo Kio and Toa Payoh combined, said LTC Sim.
He also expressed confidence that the training will help pilots
master more advanced fighters such as the F-5S/T interceptor and
F-16C/D multi-role fighter.
