British controllers direct A-10 strikes

British Joint Terminal Attack Controllers have directed US Air Force A-10C Thunderbolt II aircraft during close air support training at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia.

Personnel from the United Kingdom trained alongside US Air Force JTACs on 29 July, coordinating simulated air strikes and directing A-10 crews during a bilateral exercise involving aircraft from Moody’s 74th, 75th and 76th Fighter Squadrons.

Images released alongside a US Air Force news update show an A-10C releasing training munitions while British and American controllers observed and coordinated close air support activity from the ground.

Joint Terminal Attack Controllers are trained to direct combat aircraft providing close air support to troops on the ground, passing targeting information and clearance to aircrews while coordinating aircraft movements around friendly forces.

The training at Moody included mission planning, radio coordination, simulated strikes and face-to-face debriefs between British controllers and US pilots. The US Air Force said the recurring activity is intended to maintain qualifications while exposing JTACs to different aircraft, procedures and operating environments.

Warrant Officer Class 2 Chris Fletcher, 4th Regiment Royal Artillery formation senior JTAC, said, as quoted in a news update: “This is a great opportunity for us to train with foreign aircraft and foreign pilots while working with different tactics and building our knowledge of close air support.”

He added: “Every time we come, we learn something new.”

British JTAC personnel have been training at Moody since 2015, with visits taking place twice a year. According to the US Air Force, the programme is used both by experienced controllers maintaining their qualifications and by newly qualified personnel developing experience directing aircraft during realistic training scenarios.

The latest iteration also placed emphasis on junior JTACs, allowing them to work directly with American aircrews and practise the procedures required to coordinate close air support.

Major Nivruth Maramreddy, 23rd Fighter Group chief of standardisation and evaluation, said, as quoted in the same news update: “Every exercise is different. There’s always different things we’re testing, different tactics we’re exploring and different members of the team.”

A central part of the training involved standardising the language used between pilots and controllers. Close air support can involve aircraft employing weapons close to friendly troops, requiring instructions, target descriptions and clearances to be understood quickly by everyone involved.

“We all strive to speak the same common language,” Maramreddy said. “In the moment, when you’re about to release ordnance in close proximity to friendly forces, you don’t have the ability to ask someone on the radio, ‘Can you clarify what you meant by that?’”

Moody Air Force Base provides access to nearby training ranges where JTACs and pilots can conduct live flying and weapons training while remaining close enough to plan and review missions together. Maramreddy said the ability to bring the whole team back together after each sortie was an important part of the process.

“The debrief is where most of the learning happens,” he said. “Being able to brief together, execute the mission and then come back together to debrief in person speaks volumes to the growth of the entire close air support team.”

The A-10C remains one of the US Air Force aircraft most closely associated with the close air support mission. During the July training, the aircraft flew over British and American controllers and released training munitions against range targets while JTACs practised coordinating the attacks from the ground.

Fletcher said the repeated visits also allowed British personnel to build familiarity with the US squadrons and their operating procedures.

“We love coming out here,” he said. “We love working with the squadrons, working with the pilots and learning what they know and making ourselves better.”