Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Commanding Officer RAAF Darwin, Wing Commander Jim Collisson on hot air balloon school visits and Exercise Pitch Black

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Commanding Officer RAAF Darwin, Wing Commander Jim Collisson on hot air balloon school visits and Exercise Pitch Black · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: So we are catching up with Jim Collison, well from
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: the he's the commanding Officer of the R Double AF
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Darwin because Exercise Pitch Black twenty twenty two it is
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: a three week multinational large force employment exercise. Now it's
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: conducted from the R Double AF base here in Darwin
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: and the Raft based Tindle from the nineteenth of August
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: until the eighth of September. So the exercise, as I
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: understand it, it does host up to two thousand and
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: five hundred personnel and up to one hundred aircraft from
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: seventeen nations including Canada, New Zealand, the UK, France, Indonesia, India,
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: the Netherlands, Singapore, Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia and the US. Now
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: joining me on the line this morning to tell us
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: more about the exercise is Commanding Officer of the R
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Double AF Darwin, Wing Commander Jim Collison. Good morning to you, Jim.
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie. How are you out here at Humpty Primary?
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: Well, I was going to say before I ask you
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: more about Exercise Pitch Black, I understand that you're actually
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: out there at Humpty Doo Primary School with one of
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: the hot.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: Air balloons we have indeed. So we've got the hot
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: air balloon. It's come all the way up here to
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: Dowan from Canberra just to do some community engage me
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: work with the primary school here and a number of
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: other primary schools in the Northern Territory. So please excuse
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: me if there's a little bit of noise in the
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: background and the kids playing in whatever else.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: No, that's totally fine. So do you roll in in
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: the hot air balloon or what are you doing?
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: I know, so I'm not actually sitting at the moment.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: What they've done is they've bought the basket out here
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: with the burner so the kids can have a go
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: and play with the burner on the basket there while
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: it's heavily supervised of course, And they've got the balloon
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: on its side on the oval here so that they
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: can run around inside of the balloon, which is kind
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: of exciting.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, right, And I understand that the team's also going
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: to be visiting Alowa Primary School, Nightcliffe Primary School, Gray
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: Primary School and Jingly as well this way.
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's dirrect. Yeah, they're going to move around and
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: provide the balloon for the kids to play on and
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: to have a look at hopefully in support of the
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: community up here in the northern country and Jim, are.
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: They pretty excited when you.
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: Guys arrive most definitely. Yeah, there was lots of screaming
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: and joy I think they were running around, especially when
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: they get to touch that handle on the burner which
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: makes big flame come out of the top. Lots of
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: excitement there. How cool.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: Now let's talk about the exercise. I understand that there's
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: going to be up to twenty five hundred personnel and
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: up to one hundred aircraft from seventeen nations and a
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: few new countries taking part this year as well for
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: the first time.
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely. So you mentioned all a few of those
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: other nations there earlier, but we've also got Germany, Japan,
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: and the Republic of Korea who were coming over for
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: the first time. They're bringing their fighter aircraft over with them.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: And how important is it to you to help have
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: all of these different nations take part.
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: Look, it's really important, Katie. We use this exercise as
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: part of an international engagement program as well as enhancing
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: our air combat capabilities and our air combat tactics and
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: training that we do. It's an essential exercise for military
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: training up here in the Northern Territory so that we
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: can act on behalf of the Australian government if required
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: to do so.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: Now, I know that the city is buzzing at the
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: moment with tourists. Are where's everyone being accommodated? Where are
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: all the personnel sort of staying.
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: We've got a number of personnels staying in town at
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: different hotels, but we've also got other personnel being accommodated
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: at various bases throughout the Northern Territory, including our own
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: base there at Raft based Darwin, but also just down
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: the road at Defense Derima.
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah right, So is there is there sort of a
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: tent set up or anything like that at the Raft
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: base or what has to happen?
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: No, at this stage, Look, we've brought in a lot
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: of a lot of demoundable kind of facilities for them
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: to be able to work in. But in terms of
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: the accommodation, most of the people are able to be
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: accommodated at WRAP based doing everything accommodation.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: Now, I think the big question that everybody wonders is
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: what are they going to expect to see in the
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: skies over the coming weeks as exercise or operation Pitch
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: Black gets underway.
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, most definitely, Katie. Look, we're really excited to be
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: able to present our Mindle Beach flyover on the twenty
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: fifth of August. We're hoping that we'll get a lot
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: of people out there on Mindle Beach being able to
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: see a myriad of the different aircraft from all of
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: the different countries flying over, some doing some blind displays
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: and the like. And at the same time, on the
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: twenty seventh of August, we've got an open day at
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: rap Based Dowen where the majority of those foreign aircraft
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: will be on display for people to come and have
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: a look at and enjoy themselves.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: And that's always a really important part of it, isn't
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: it to make sure that the community is and I
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: know that a lot of people, you know, are really
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: very interested.
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, most definitely. Look, we know that we get great
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: support of the Northern Territory community and we're really happy
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: to be able to give back in a small way
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: at least with these few activities that we can get
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: the community involved and they can come out and view
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: and enjoy the aircraft that are coming over here for
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: exercise Pitch Black.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: Now, Jim, I know that there is always some people
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: who are a little bit concerned about some of the noise.
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: Can we expect some noise over the next couple of
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: weeks when it gets underway.
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: Look, there will be noises as part of the exercise, Katie.
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: I think it's important that the community understands the reason
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: why we undertake exercises like Pitch Black. There are essential
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: activities to ensure that the WRATH personnel and the international
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: partners remain ready to respond to protect Australia's national interestypre required,
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: and in doing so, we're also making sure that where possible,
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: we limit the impact of is to the community by
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: limiting speed of the aircraft, not using some of the
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: after burners and stuff when we don't have to, and
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: also minimizing the flying over the residential areas as much
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: as possible. We appreciate that ongoing support from the community
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: and that's part of the reason why we're trying to
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: give back as much as we can now.
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: Jim, I know that I've got a couple of text
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: messages coming through from our listeners this morning who are
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: very keen to find out when some of the aircraft
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: might be taking off or you know, whether they're going
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: to be able to see much from Amy Johnson drive
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: there because the kids are apparently keen to see them
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: taking off as well.
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, look, they probably will be able to view some
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: of the aircraft once the exercise kicks off and is underway.
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: The opening of the exercise on the nineteenth. I think
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: the first flying begins around the twenty second of August,
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: and there'll be essentially two waves of aircraft in the
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: morning and again in the afternoon, so there should be
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: an opportunity first thing, or not that first thing in
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: the morning, but relatively early in the morning, and then
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: just after lunch in the afternoon.
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: Oh good stuff. Well, Jim, it does sound as though
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: the kids are pretty excited out there at the school.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: I can hear plenty of action going on in the background.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: Good on you guys, have a great morning, and no
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: doubt we'll catch up with you again soon.
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: Great and look forward to it. And thanks for support Katie,
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: no worries, Thank you.