Courtesy Don Simms
THE
A-4 ALLEY
Kiwi
Skyhawk Operations and Squadrons
This
was published prior to the insane decision of May 2001.
I have left it unedited as the points it makes are still valid
No 75
Squadron RNZAF
Mission
Statement:
"To be capable of conducting
effective day or night conventional offensive air operations, as an independent
Squadron or as part of a larger force.”
INTRODUCTION:
No
75 Squadron is the RNZAF’s primary Air Combat Squadron.
Based at RNZAF Base Ohakea, 75 Squadron operates the McDonnell Douglas
A-4K Skyhawk in the roles of Maritime Surface Attack, Interdiction and Close Air
Support. The Squadron is maintained
at a high state of readiness to deploy overseas at short notice. This is because any threat to New Zealand’s interests is likely to
occur thousands of kilometers from our shores (as has been the case in every
conflict New Zealand has been involved with in the past 100 years).
The Squadron’s focus is on deployed
operations in support of our likely coalition partners.
In essence 75 Squadron is an expeditionary force which exists to fight.
The
RNZAF Air Combat Force exists to provide the New Zealand Government with a
flexible and rapid response in a time of crisis.
Deployment of the Air Combat Force involves the use of technology for
maximum speed and effect, and it exposes a minimum number of personnel to the
actual risks of combat. No 75
Squadron trains for war and the Squadron’s regular deployments to Australia
and South East Asia ‘demonstrate
New Zealand’s commitment to security in the Asia/Pacific region and that New
Zealand takes it’s defence capability seriously’.
New
Zealand has a long and proud history of contributing its Armed Forces overseas
in the defence of peace and human rights. The
Air Combat Force represents the ‘sharp end’ of the range of options
available to the Government in times of crisis. Having armed forces can be likened to having an insurance
policy, or keeping a fire extinguisher in your kitchen. Most of the time they are not used, but sometime in the
future they could be. Some may ask
that since our Air Combat Force hasn’t been used in
anger in recent years, why have one at all?
International crisis and instability can occur in a very short time frame
(for example the recent turmoil in East Timor).
Only by maintaining well-equipped and trained armed forces can New
Zealand provide a rapid response to such a crisis.
If New Zealand scrapped its Air Combat Force it would take years to
rebuild it from scratch. Clearly in
a modern war, the luxury of time is not available.
Just
because you haven’t used that fire extinguisher in your kitchen, that isn’t
a very smart reason to get rid of it. If
you do get rid of it and then have a fire, by the time you go and buy a new one
it will be too late!
History can provide us with some good examples of the consequences of not being prepared. At the start of WWII New Zealand’s armed forces were in a very poor state. A decade of appeasement policies had left the New Zealand military in a very run down state (sounds familiar doesn’t it!). The Air Force consisted of just a few hundred personnel and had no modern aircraft (sounds awfully familiar doesn’t it!!). When war broke out in September 1939 it took three years to fully mobilise, equip and train our personnel. By the time we were ready, the danger to New Zealand had passed and many thousands of our service personnel were already dead or in POW camps overseas (including hundreds of No 75 Squadron aircrew). Ironically by the time the war ended the RNZAF was a large, modern and well-trained fighting machine, but initially our personnel went to war (and died) woefully under trained and equipped. We would be foolish to forget and repeat this tragic lesson from our past.
A-4K
SKYHAWK (TO BE SCRAPPED??)
F-16A FIGHTING FALCON - CANCELLED
In service with the RNZAF since 1970, No 75 Squadron operates up to 13 A-4K and TA-4K Skyhawk. The TA-4K is a fully combat capable two-seat trainer version of the single seat A-4K, and at any one time up to two of the RNZAF’s five “T-bird” Skyhawk's may be on No 75 Squadron. The remaining three T-birds, plus three of the single seaters are permanently stationed at HMAS Albatross (Nowra) in NSW Australia, with our sister unit, No 2 Squadron. No 2 Squadron is the RNZAF Skyhawk training unit and would provide reinforcement of aircraft, pilots and ground crew to No 75 Squadron in the event of a full-scale combat deployment. At any one time up to five Skyhawks may be undergoing deeper level maintenance away from the Squadrons at either Ohakea or Woodbourne.
The
Skyhawk is still in service with the Armed Forces of Singapore, Indonesia,
Israel, Argentina, Brazil, and the United States Navy (albeit only in limited
numbers in a training role). Like
New Zealand, many of these countries have embarked on upgrade programs to keep
the aircraft combat capable and it is likely that the Skyhawk will be in service
with a small number of these countries for some years to come.
New Zealand’s aircraft are a mix of nine aircraft out of 14 originally
purchased new in 1970 (six A-4K and 3 TA-4K) and nine second hand aircraft
purchased from Australia in 1984 (seven A-4G and two TA-4G).
Four of the ex-Australian A-4G’s were previously in service with the
USN (as A-4F models) and saw active combat service in Vietnam between 1968 and
1970.
Known
as “The Scooter” or “Heinemann’s Hot Rod” around the world, in New
Zealand service the Skyhawk has also been called “The Douglas”,
“Dinosaur” (pre-Kahu update) and the “Electric Jet” (post-Kahu update).
But mostly they are affectionately referred to as; “Models” (single
seaters) and “T-birds” (two seaters).
The
Skyhawk is capable of air-to-air refuelling operations, and is one of the few
combat aircraft in the world that can act as both tanker and receiver.
Air-to-air refuelling greatly increases the range and flexibility of a
combat aircraft when carrying out long transit flights or operational missions
and is an essential element of our Air Attack Force, given New Zealand’s
geographical position at the bottom of the world.
Although
the Skyhawk has been in service with the RNZAF for over 31 years, in our hands
it remains one of the most effective and respected light attack aircraft in the
Asia-Pacific region (despite its age and limitations).
This has only been made possible by the professionalism, skill and high
standards set by our pilots and maintenance personnel.
In order to maintain the combat capability of a 35-year-old design, the
RNZAF has had to extensively update the Avionics and Weapon Systems of the
Skyhawk. Known as Project Kahu, the
upgrade was completed in 1991. At
the time it was the most extensive upgrade of an attack aircraft undertaken
anywhere in the world. Project Kahu
has ensured the aircraft can still keep up (technologically speaking if not in
terms of actual speed) with its more modern counterparts.
While the airframe and engine may not be “state-of-the-art”, the
avionics systems (the pilots electronic “eyes and ears”) and weapon systems
are. With careful airframe
fatigue-life management and further Avionics upgrading, the RNZAF’s Skyhawk's could be kept in service for several more years (although another new blade and
handle for the axe will be required!). However,
given the decision by the current Government to cancel the lease of F-16
aircraft to replace the Skyhawk's, and the current drive by the Government to
strip the Air Force of all its combat capability, the future for the Skyhawk's in
New Zealand looks grim.
TRAINING
TO BE TOP GUNS:
RNZAF pilots selected to fly the Skyhawk will have completed a year of basic training on the CT-4E Airtrainer, followed by two years of Lead-in-Fighter Training on the Aermacchi MB339CB, prior to being posted to 2 Squadron in Nowra for their Skyhawk conversion course. They will spend about 12 months in Nowra before being posted to 75 Squadron at Ohakea. 75 Squadron has up to 13 pilots on strength at any one time, ranging from the CO (known as “The Boss”) with over 20 years in the Air Force and around 2000 Skyhawk flying hours, to the newly posting in pilots from No 2 Squadron, with around 250 hours on the Skyhawk and five years in the Air Force. Pilots spend about 2 and a half years on an operational tour on 75 Squadron, before a posting somewhere else in the Air Force. Many will eventually return to flying the Skyhawk, either at 2 Squadron as an instructor, or back at 75 Squadron as one of the Flight Commanders or later as CO (on their third or fourth tour). The art of flying jet fighters is highly skilled and requires years of intensive training before you can be considered ready for combat operations. ‘The days of giving a pilot a few hours in a Tiger Moth and then letting him loose on a Spitfire are gone’.
MAINTAINING
THE “SCOOTER” (A-4’s FOREVER!!)
DEPLOYMENTS AND EXERCISES
In
any normal 12-month period 75 Squadron can be expected to be away overseas on
deployment for between three and four months, practicing what it exists to
provide – rapid, deployable air combat capability.
In a normal year the Squadron deploys to Australia twice to exercise with
our Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and Royal Australian Navy (RAN)
counterparts. These exercises can
be based anywhere in Australia, from Darwin, Tindal and Townsville in the north,
to Amberly, Williamtown and Nowra on the east coast.
Like everywhere 75 Squadron goes, the Australians have a healthy respect
for the Squadron and its aircraft. 75
Squadron also usually hosts the Australians in New Zealand for at least one
major exercise a year. The longest
deployment of the year for 75 Squadron is the annual “Exercise Vanguard”,
which takes the Squadron to South East Asia, regularly visiting Malaysia and
Singapore and occasionally Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia to exercise
with these countries Armed Forces. 75
Squadron has a hard won reputation in the region as a tough opponent in the air.
The RNZAF has been deploying its
strike aircraft on the ‘Vanguard’ series of exercises almost continuously
for the past 40 years and has an enviable reputation for performance, safety and
aircraft serviceability during these intensive 6 to 8 week deployments.
PRACTICING
FOR THE REAL THING
In
1964 during a scheduled six week Vanguard deployment, one of the RNZAF’s
Canberra bomber Squadrons was brought up to full combat readiness during what
became known as the “Indonesian Confrontation”.
Based out of Singapore, their planned six week exercise turned into an
unscheduled two year operational deployment and demonstrated the flexibility and
value of having a Squadron of combat capable strike aircraft available for
deployment at short notice. This
show of force by New Zealand and its Allies (known
as deterrence)
was all that was required to persuade the Indonesian Government to stop its
sabre rattling. In more recent
times 75 Squadron Skyhawk's have been involving in apprehending foreign fishing
vessels that have been found infringing our territorial waters and that have
refused to stop for boarding/inspection by the Navy and Fisheries Officers.
In one incident in 1976, a Skyhawk had to fire its cannon across the bow
of a fleeing Taiwanese trawler to get it to stop.
Of relevance given the current ‘discussion’ on what fisheries
protection capability NZ needs, the trawler took no notice of a chasing Navy
patrol boat, which had also fired across its bow in an attempt to get it to stop.
It
took the arrival of two fully armed Skyhawk's
and a demonstration of their
firepower to “persuade” the trawler captain to stop.
As one Skyhawk pilot of the day put it “…it doesn’t hurt to have
the ability to do something a little nasty when necessary – you don’t have
to actually use it, just the intent is enough…”.
Interestingly in the 25 years since this incident there have been no
further cases of foreign fishing vessels failing to stop in New Zealand
territorial waters when asked (another example of deterrenece
working again). Clearly the lesson
was learnt and this fact should not be forgotten by those who question the need
for a combat capable Air Force today. This
was one instance where the value of having such a force available in New Zealand
was clearly demonstrated.