Tech. Sgt. Wesley Walker, an aircraft armament systems technician with the 354th Maintenance Squadron, was given the opportunity to view the mission from a vantage point he had never experienced before, 30,000 feet in the air
The 354th Maintenance Squadron’s Tech. Sgt. Wesley Walker, an aircraft armament systems technician for the U.S. Air Force (USAF), is typically in charge of maintaining launch and release mechanisms on aircraft and making sure that explosive devices can be deployed accurately from combat planes. He was given the opportunity to observe the mission of training and preparing Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) fighter combat instructors, airspace battle managers, fighter intelligence instructors, and fighter combat controllers of the RAAF Air Warfare Centre Instructors Course (AWIC) from a perspective he had never seen before: from 30,000 feet in the air. This was before the 18th Aggressor Squadron finished their final sortie in Exercise Diamond Shield (DS).
In his article, An unforgettable flight in an unforgettable place, Tech. Sgt. Steven Doty of the 354th Fighter Wing related the following: During Tech. Sgt. Wesley Walker’s F-16 flight over Australia on March 24, 2017, the 18th Aggressor pilots, who had been working tirelessly for weeks to maintain the fleet of F-16 fighter jets throughout their rigorous training schedule, demonstrated their weapons capabilities against their “Blue Air” AWIC F-18 Hornet targets.
“It was a pretty amazing experience to see the results of what our maintainers do,” said Walker. “And what better time and place than during a training exercise over Australia.”
Noteworthy is his host pilot for this special flight, Maj. Shawn McGoffin of the 354 Fighter Wing, who also happens to go by the call sign “Coach,” was equally as eager to show him the steps involved in carrying out a sortie, from mission planning to donning the flight gear to flight maneuvers and showcasing the F-16’s capabilities against “Blue Air.”
“Wes did well for being in a new and more challenging environment than what he’s used to,” said McGoffin. “I was happy to show him the fruits of his labor while we were up there training the RAAF pilots of the AWIC.”
There aren’t many impressions as enduring as the one made on Walker, despite the fact that the pilots of the 18th Aggressor Squadron will have a profound impact on the RAAF AWIC cadets. As evidenced by the smile he couldn’t help but wear after this incredible flight.
Exercise DS17, the second of the RAAF Air Warfare Centre’s four Diamond Series drills, is a training exercise for the Australian Defence Force in which high-readiness soldiers swiftly deploy to isolated parts of Australia in response to a fictitious security threat. The workout was scheduled to take place from Mar. 13 to Mar. 31, 2017.
During Exercise Red Flag Alaska and other training exercises in the Pacific region, the 18th Aggressor Squadron prepares combat Air Force, joint, and allied aircrews through demanding, realistic threat replication, training, test support, academics, and feedback. The unit trains at Nellis Air Force Base in the same way as the aggressors, learning the flying techniques and capabilities of foreign air forces in order to prepare USAF pilots for realistic opposition. The unit is based at Eielson Air Force Base (AFB) in Alaska and flies the Block 30 F-16C/D aircraft.
Source: U.S. Air Force; Photo by Tech. Sgt. Steven R. Doty / U.S. Air Force
