Page 7 - 29 CDO

The mock ZSU 23-2 assembled by Flt Sgt Bonner in RAF Sculthorpe.
Exercise HULK STRIKE: preparing for Operation FORTIS
A HVM detachment acquiring active locks on the F35B from the battlements.
A JTAC targeting a moving ship inside the breakwater.
Flt Lt R Hewitt RAF
29 Commando JTACs are embarked on HMS Queen Elizabeth as part of the first operational deployment of the Carrier Strike Group. Heading for the Indo-Pacific region, our soldiers, airmen and marines will get to visit more than one-fifth of the world’s nations while operating alongside our American allies and our partners from the Five Power Defence Arrangement: Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand. But before the JTACs deployed, they completed a final week of tactical development and experimentation training alongside the RAF squadron they will be living and working alongside onboard the carrier; 617 “The Dambuster” F35 Squadron.
As part of Exercise HULK STRIKE in April 2021, the JTACs disaggregated into two teams, rotating between The Royal Citadel and RAF Sculthorpe airfield. In the Citadel the JTACs conducted move and track scenarios within the urban littoral
environment above Plymouth, with RED and BLUE force injects provided by the HVM systems of the Royal Marines Air Defence Troop. Meanwhile in RAF Sculthorpe, the other team completed similar scenarios in the rural littoral environment, making some visual alterations of a Ford 4x4 to replicate a ZSU 23-2 to enhance the training for the pilots. The 617 Squadron jets would require daily tanker assistance to transit between both areas, and each day the JTACs in Sculthorpe would travel down to RAF Marham to complete face to face after action reviews to evaluate their TTPS alongside the pilots.
For both 29 Commando and 617 Squadron, this was an efficient week of mission specific training before embarking ship and sailing up to Cape Wrath in Scotland for Exercise STRIKE WARRIOR, a final validation exercise before the taskgroup sets a bearing for the Suez Canal and beyond.
Operation SHADER: the
counterinsurgency continues
Flt Lt R Hewitt RAF
The Op SHADER roulement for 29 Commando JTACs embedded within a US Special Operations Force Joint Operations Centre in Iraq remains alive and kicking. Since its inception in 2015, every JTAC wants to be in the frame for the next rotation, so this deployment continues to serve as a great source for pushing the standard higher and higher while keeping the Regiment at the leading edge of JTAC TTPs.
As an individual augmentee advising US SOF tactical commanders on the practicalities of deliv- ering Air Maritime Land Integration and Close Air Support, never once has a JTAC been discrimi- nated by their rank, age or cap badge. The only
metric they are judged by is their professionalism and competency as a JTAC, and hence why this unique roulement has lasted so long. As a tri-service community of Army, Marines and Air Force JTACs, the breadth of perspective and cross contamination of wider military knowledge pays dividends when advising commanders in dark blue, light blue or green. And the opportunity to deploy in support of counterinsurgency strike operations in Iraq demon- strates that we can continually adapt to the full spectrum of operations that we as a Commando Force must be ready to respond, be that in JPR, NEO, HADR or an offensive commando raid.
29 COMMANDO REGIMENT ROYAL ARTILLERY 5