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CanadianAir Force. ColdLake is on thewestern
side of Canada, while Bagotville is more in the
eastern-central part of Canada, where the first
language is French. The CF-18 personnel are all
fromCold Lake, but other groups of personnel,
like forceprotection, engineers, andourmedical
staff are from a variety of units across Canada.
The entire Air Task Force trained together for a
period of time before deploying, so when we
arrivedwewereapretty cohesive teamalready.
Someof ourmembers havedeployedoverseas
before, whichbrings abreadthof experience to
the team; but we also have some first-timers
among us, and the experience they will gain
herewill helptheorganizationas awhole.When
we completeourmissioneveryonewill goback
to their units in Canada, and we will analyze
what we have learnt so we can all benefit for
future missions.
Please tell us more about the Canadian-
Romanian training exercises you do here.
What type of missions and battle tactics did
you practiced here? Differences, similarities
regardingthe- Canadianworkingmode?Are
theNATOprocedures,asacommonlanguage
for interoperability,well implementedonboth
sides?
The Romanian personnel we have flown
and worked with are very well trained, and
extremely familiarwithNATOtactics, techniques
andprocedures,whichmade it thatmucheasier
to startworking togetherwhenwefirst arrived.
We train together almost daily, conducting a
varietyofmissions, like: basicfightermaneuvers,
air combat maneuvers, tactical intercepts,
offensive and defensive counter air, close air
support, air interdiction and lots more.
InadditiontotheMiG-21s,we’realsotraining
alongside Romanian and Portuguese F-16
Fighting Falcons based at the 86th Air Base in
Borcea, UnitedStatesArmyBlackHawkhelicop-
ters, andU.S. Air ForceAWACS. Also,we’vedone
some trainingwith thePumahelicopters based
here atMK. These are all trainingopportunities
we don’t normally get at home, but over here,
with the number of allies we have in such close
proximity, we’re gettingmore DACT [dissimilar
aircraft training] opportunities than we ever
wouldbackhome. It’s awin-win situation, we’re
learning a lot from you and hopefully you’re
learning a bit fromus, too.
What do you consider to be the main
differences between MIG-21 and
Hornet aircraft in regard to
operating procedures?
The MiG-21 is a great air-
craft, andwe enjoy flyingwith
them very much; the main
differencebetweenthetwojets
is theHornet is a fourthgenera-
tion aircraft and therefore a more
integratedplatform,withavarietyof sensors
that enhance situational awareness andprovide
excellent air-to-air and air-to-sur face
capability.
Do you confirm the participation with CF-18
Hornetaircraftat theNationalRomanianDay,
onDecember1?Howarepreparationsgoing?
In Canada, do you usually participate in air-
shows and festive days?
Yes, I can confirmwe will participate in the
parade, and we are all looking forward to it. I
believe it is the first time Canadians will have
ever marched in this parade, which is a great
honour and privilege. It will be an outstanding
opportunity for us to participate in such an
important day for Romania, we’ll be there with
a platoon of personnel, about 30 members of
theAir TaskForce, and twoCF-18Hornetswhich
will conduct a flyby. At home, we have a CF-18
DemonstrationTeam,whichspecializes inevents
and activities like this all summer long. We also
doanumber of flybys andstaticdemonstrations
at airshows all over Canada and the United
States.
What do you hope to accomplish
at the end of themission, for
your unit and for yourself,
personally?
At the end of the mission,
when we all go home, the entire
Air Task Force will take some
well-deserved time-off to spend with their
families and loved ones. Most families will
probably have a second Christmas, as the Air
TaskForcewill be spendingDecember here. But
this isn’t a problem, everyone came here pre-
paredtoconduct themission fromstart tofinish.
I’m proud to say that every person from this
detachment is carryingout hisor her dutieswith
dedication and professionalism. We’re accom-
plishing quite a lot while here, and developing
an extremely strong partnership with our
Romanian allies. Overall, the mission has been
a great success and we are very proud to have
been a part of it.
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Nr. 4 (151)
2017
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INTEGRITY – COMMITMENT – TENACITY