Page 103 - The Royal Lancers Chapka 2019

REGIMENTAL JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL LANCERS (QUEEN ELIZABETHS’ OWN)
Allied Regiments and Affiliations
100 Squadron, Royal Air Force
As 2019 drew to a close, 100 Squadron has been able to look back with some satisfaction on yet another new milestone in its illustrious history. Following in the wake of the Squadron’s own Centenary celebrations in 2017 and its participation in the RAF’s centenary in 2018, including the flypast along the Mall, 2019 has heralded an equally busy year, particularly in terms of an ever-expanding role. 2019 marked the 45th Anniversary of the Hawk T1’s first flight, a longevity which compares to the timeline from man’s first ever powered flight in 1903 to the first jet flight across the Atlantic in 1948. Nevertheless, the aircraft and 100 Squadron continue to deliver in key training and opera- tional support roles.
2019 marked the introduction of a significant, additional train- ing role for 100 Squadron. An earlier announcement to increase the size of the front-line Royal Air Force, together with the in- troduction of Lightning II, our first Fifth Generation Stealth fighter, placed a stepped increase in both the Fast Jet training burden for Headquarters 22 Training Group and the front-line Aggressor task performed by 100 Squadron. As a direct conse- quence, 100 Squadron was tasked to expand its operational sup- port remit to supplement the Advanced Fast Jet Training role, until recently provided solely by the Hawk T2 squadrons at Roy- al Air Force Valley. Whilst the 2 variants of the Hawk flown by Valley and Leeming differ markedly in their technology, the 100 Squadron Hawks entering Service 35 years before their Valley counterparts, both had been designed specifically for the fast jet training role. Indeed, until 2016, both marks had operated side by side at Royal Air Force Valley in this role and several of the former instructors from Valley had only recently been posted to 100 Squadron. Nonetheless, the timescale allocated to develop,
absorb, accredit and integrate this new-found task alongside 100 squadron’s core business was extremely tight, given that there were no additional airframes or Qualified Flying Instructors available. However, within 4 months, a small team led by Squad- ron Leader Arlett had designed and ratified a bespoke syllabus tailored to the Hawk T1 to ensure that students allocated to train on 100 Squadron would be equally as well prepared for transi- tion to Typhoon as their counterparts at Royal Air Force Valley. Such has been its speed of implementation that the first course of 2 students graduated successfully in October, sharing prizes for excellent standards achieved and at the time of writing this article, the second student course has already reached the half way point.
Such has been the outwardly seamless integration of its new training role, the Squadron’s support to its primary operational support role has barely wavered, albeit that its personnel are now mastering a much wider panoply of tasks, encompassing support to Land, Maritime and Air Components.
Support to the Land Element continues to focus on Close Air Support training, comprising 2 elements. The first, through the Joint Forward Air Control Training Support Unit, requires 100 Squadron to provide initial training to personnel, primarily British Army and Special Forces, in the art of directing air as- sets against identified ground targets in support of Land objec- tives. Whilst the autonomous nature and technology inherent in air-delivered weapons may have advanced over recent years, lessons from Iraq and Afghanistan have demonstrated the con- tinued need for close integration between Air and Land assets. This leads to the second element of Land support which is the
Flight line at Orange Graduation of Advanced Fast Jet Training Couse 100-1
Leeuwarden Weather
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