Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie Woolf spoke with Rogue Ambush Commanding Officer of RAAF Base Darwin Wing Commander Andrew ‘Andros’ Anthony

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Katie Woolf spoke with Rogue Ambush Commanding Officer of RAAF Base Darwin Wing Commander Andrew ‘Andros’ Anthony · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: Hello, Katie Wolf and three point sixty online at Mix
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  Speaker 1: one O four nine dot com.
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  Speaker 2: Now we understand that the thirty five's are back in
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  Speaker 2: the top end and joining us in the studio right
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  Speaker 2: now to tell us a little bit more about Exercise
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  Speaker 2: Row Gambush, which begins today. It is Andrew Anthony, who
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  Speaker 2: is the commanding officer of the RUBAF base here in Darwin.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning to you.
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  Speaker 1: Good morning, Katie. Thanks very much for having me.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you so much for joining us this morning. Now,
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  Speaker 2: tell us a little bit more about Exercise Row Ambush.
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  Speaker 2: It sounds like an interesting one. I like the name
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  Speaker 2: of this.
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  Speaker 1: It is, so, Katie.
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  Speaker 3: Exercise Rogue Ambush is the final phase of the conversion
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  Speaker 3: course for our new f thirty five pilots. So it's
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  Speaker 3: their their final phase of training. And basically once they
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  Speaker 3: finish this exercise, they graduate and they then post into
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  Speaker 3: an operational flying unit.
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  Speaker 2: And so are the are these the new type of aircraft?
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  Speaker 2: Is that what the goeyes?
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  Speaker 1: They certainly are.
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  Speaker 3: So before this exercise, our pilots were trained over in
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  Speaker 3: the United States. We're also converting previously qualified fighter pilots
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  Speaker 3: onto the new platform. So there's a lot of first
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  Speaker 3: for this one. It's the first time that we've done
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  Speaker 3: a conversion course in Australia with Australian pilots training Australian pilots.
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  Speaker 3: And it's also the first time that we've graduated pilots
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  Speaker 3: on this new platform that have started their flying training,
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  Speaker 3: gone all the way through and are about to graduate
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  Speaker 3: onto the F thirty five.
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  Speaker 2: How cool, and so is it the first time that
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  Speaker 2: it's happened in Australia because of COVID or is there
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  Speaker 2: another reason for us?
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  Speaker 3: No, they're just new aircraft type, so they were brought
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  Speaker 3: into service slowly over the last couple of years and
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  Speaker 3: we've now got enough of them that we can run
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  Speaker 3: our own training programs with our own crews.
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  Speaker 2: That's awesome. So how many people are here for this exercise?
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  Speaker 3: So there's about three hundred people participating in the exercise
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  Speaker 3: in total. Between between Tyndall and Darwin, there are about
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  Speaker 3: twelve aircraft operating from raft based Darwen. We've got ten
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  Speaker 3: thirty fives and two wedge tails. So it's not just
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  Speaker 3: about the fighter pilots, it's about those other aircrew who
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  Speaker 3: also support that mission. So with our E seven, a
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  Speaker 3: wedgetail aircraft we're going to be graduating I think three
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  Speaker 3: co pilots and a number of our operators that work
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  Speaker 3: in the back of the aircraft that help basically manage
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  Speaker 3: the battlespace.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, right now, tell us a little bit more about
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  Speaker 2: these aircraft. You brought me in this little fly which
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  Speaker 2: is awesome because, as you know, I don't know a
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  Speaker 2: lot about the aircraft, so I'm always reliant on you're
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  Speaker 2: telling us a little bit more about them. But what
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  Speaker 2: you tell me a bit more about these air thirty fives.
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  Speaker 3: So the F thirty five is what we call a
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  Speaker 3: fifth generation platform. So what it does is it is
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  Speaker 3: more connected than our previous platforms. They integrate better. It's
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  Speaker 3: like having a later model computer that just works faster
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  Speaker 3: and can provide information to the pilots that the otherwise
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  Speaker 3: wouldn't have had when operating on an earlier platform.
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  Speaker 1: Top.
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  Speaker 2: Now, what about these wedge tails?
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  Speaker 1: What the hey?
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  Speaker 3: So they're a airborne early warning and control aircraft. So
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  Speaker 3: you see them that looks like they've got this massive
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  Speaker 3: surfboard sitting on top of them. Yeah, and that's a
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  Speaker 3: big radar. And what they do is you've got operators
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  Speaker 3: at the back of the aircraft that get the full
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  Speaker 3: picture of who's in the area, and they provide information
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  Speaker 3: through to the fighter pilots so they can see what's
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  Speaker 3: going on around them.
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  Speaker 2: So tell us what exactly sort of happens when they
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  Speaker 2: do these exercises. I mean, is it run as if
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  Speaker 2: they are, you know, in a conflict situation.
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  Speaker 3: So arnam Thunder was more about that where we work
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  Speaker 3: in a contestant environment, and that's about taking those previously
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  Speaker 3: qualified pilots and getting them to work with other platforms,
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  Speaker 3: work together as a team, essentially in a contestant environment.
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  Speaker 3: This is more about graduating those pilots that are coming
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  Speaker 3: through the system. They will be challenged through different scenarios,
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  Speaker 3: but not to the level that we were doing in
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  Speaker 3: arm Thunder.
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  Speaker 2: And so how many are you expecting to graduate after
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  Speaker 2: this training?
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  Speaker 1: So there'll be four fighter pilots.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, we'll have three co pilots from the E seven
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  Speaker 3: A and eight crews from that were working the back
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  Speaker 3: end of the aircraft.
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  Speaker 2: Now with Exercise roy Gambush, how long is it going for?
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  Speaker 2: And I know that one of the complaints that we
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  Speaker 2: hear a little bit is the noise and people concerned
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  Speaker 2: about the noise, I reckon. It's so if you've got
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  Speaker 2: a baby that you're trying to get to go to sleep,
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  Speaker 2: what is the situation, how long is it going for
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  Speaker 2: and can we expect a bit of noise?
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  Speaker 1: Thanks Hottie.
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  Speaker 3: So unfortunately, that is one thing that is comes part
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  Speaker 3: and passable with operating fast jets is they do make
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  Speaker 3: a lot of noise, but we try our best to
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  Speaker 3: minimize that around the community. For this exercise, it's Monday
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  Speaker 3: to Friday flying only and from about eight thirty through
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  Speaker 3: to five o'clock in the afternoon, so no night flying
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  Speaker 3: on the section. Allis yes, although babies do sleep throughout
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  Speaker 3: the days.
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  Speaker 1: As a dad, I'm well aware of that.
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  Speaker 3: So we do appreciate the support that we do get
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  Speaker 3: from the community and your patients.
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  Speaker 1: But the jets will be flying up until the thirtieth.
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  Speaker 3: Of June and they'll then start departing for their trip
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  Speaker 3: back to Newcastle on the first of July and the
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  Speaker 3: second of July. They'll be all out of town by
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  Speaker 3: the end of second and July.
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  Speaker 2: And exercise Row Gambullship follows on from Arnham Thunder and
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  Speaker 2: I know that there was plenty happening with Arham Thunder
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  Speaker 2: as well, wasn't there?
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  Speaker 3: There certainly was, and that there was a lot of
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  Speaker 3: first with Arnham Thunder, the first time we've deployed the
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  Speaker 3: F thirty five, the first time that number of different
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  Speaker 3: platforms have operated together, and it was a great success. Again,
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  Speaker 3: appreciate the support we had from the community for that.
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  Speaker 3: The aircraft had very high mission success rates. It was
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  Speaker 3: a great opportunity for the air Force.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and it sounds like it's a busy time for
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  Speaker 2: you guys. Any other exercises planned in the next couple
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  Speaker 2: of weeks or is this it for a little while.
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  Speaker 3: Not for the next couple of weeks. There's always some
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  Speaker 3: surprises that are being planned that we find out about.
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  Speaker 3: I don't I can't offer I guess an exact answer
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  Speaker 3: on what might be coming down an auge later in
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  Speaker 3: the year. But there is a lot going on. As
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  Speaker 3: you say, We've still got the repatriation flights coming in.
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  Speaker 3: We'll still got the Marines operating their aircraft, their helicopters
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  Speaker 3: and their ospreys, so there's a fair bit going on.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, there most certainly is well, Andrew. It is always
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  Speaker 2: good to catch up with you. We really appreciate you
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  Speaker 2: coming into the studio and having a chat with us.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks so much, katieways a pleasure, Thank you.
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  Speaker 2: That is the well Rowe Ambush Commanding Officer of the
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  Speaker 2: r a F bahis Darwin Wing Commander Andrew Anthony and
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  Speaker 2: and it's always good to catch up with him and
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  Speaker 2: find out exactly what is going on with these different
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  Speaker 2: with these different training exercises and for us, I think
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  Speaker 2: as a community to find out a little bit more
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  Speaker 2: about the work that is happening around the place.