RAF Force Protection leads on security on Exercise Mobility
Guardian
Royal Air Force personnel are
playing a leading role in providing security on Mobility Guardian, a large air
mobility exercise in the United States involving 3000 personnel from 24 countries.
At a remote austere airfield a Force
Protection team led by the RAF are protecting the transport aircraft and
personnel conducting humanitarian relief operations to ensure aid reaches those
in need.
In the opening days of the exercise
the US Army’s 82nd Airborne Division conducted a mass parachute drop
to seize the airfield. Once secured, responsibility for the establishment and
operation of the airfield passed to the Contingency Response Group (CRG).
The force protection for the CRG is
being provided by 4 Force Protection Wing Headquarters, No. 2 Squadron RAF
Regiment, 1 Tactical Police Squadron and 2624 Squadron, RAuxAF Regiment
together with personnel from the Royal Australian Air Force, Belgian Air
Component and US Air Force.
As military vehicles of all shapes and sizes
are loaded and offloaded in quick time from a row of huge transport aircraft,
the Force Protection team kept a watchful eye on potential threats to the
transporters and their crews in temperatures exceeding 40°C.
The
Force Protection Component Commander is Squadron Leader Steve Turner, Officer
Commanding No. 2 Squadron RAF Regiment. He said: “Our role is to provide force
protection to the CRG operations. That forms two parts. First the security of
the operating areas here at Moses Lake, the other is enabling certain air
mobility operations that conduct land away tasks from here.
“It’s
a very valuable exercise, it’s been a real learning process for everyone
involved. Since we got here the integration has been fantastic, the attitude
towards interoperability and flexibility has helped resolve any sticking points
which have arisen.”
One
training serial was observed by Group Captain Dave Tait, the Station Commander
of RAF Honington. He said: “You really can’t beat working alongside the
aircraft, the aircrew, the technicians, the movers and our international
partners with whom we’ll be operating alongside on the day in a real time live
flying environment. It’s absolutely
fantastic training value.”
The
scenario observed by Gp Capt Tait saw an Air Mobility Protection Team
comprising of RAF and Belgian personnel having to keep a crowd of civilians
away from an RAF A400M Atlas. Tact and diplomacy was required to ensure the
aircraft remained secure and could complete its mission unhindered.
Gp
Capt Tait: The variety of scenarios enable us to trial new tactics techniques
and procedures (TTP), and it’s quite interesting to work with the Belgians who
do things in a subtly different way. We’ve learnt a few things about them which
allowed us to refine our TTPs and they learn from us as well.”
Editor: Wg
Cdr Eklund
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