New manual gives mobility crews ‘go-to-war’ guidance

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Paul Fazzini
  • Air Mobility Command Public Affairs
SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. (AFPN) --  For years, Air Force fighter and bomber crews have been guided into combat by a manual on tactics, techniques and procedures. Now, mobility aircrews will have similar guidance on how to go to war.

Because Air Mobility Command aircrews and weapons systems were pushing closer to the threat envelope, Lt. Gen. John R. Baker, AMC vice commander, said the command needed to take the next step to document tactics, techniques and procedures for its wartime missions.

“The adoption of ... our combat-fundamentals manual is an appropriate reaction to successfully accomplishing future airlift and tanker combat missions,” General Baker said. “We need to forge an environment in which we train how we fight. We’ve taken the necessary first steps in this arena; however, it’s just the beginning.”

The general said AMC officials are continuing to look for ways to inject realism into its day-to-day training.

“We need to push our aircrews to use the tools we’ve given them and effectively use all crew positions to exploit the capabilities of our technology,” he said.

The manual, with separate volumes addressing specifics for each of AMC’s cargo and tanker aircraft, will do just that. It is currently in an electronic format on a compact disc, and each volume has 350 to 500 pages describing aircraft performance, defensive systems and mission planning cell operations. The CD also includes graphics, videos, tables and charts.

While the mobility community did not have a “technical bible” to guide them before, they were not just flying into a combat environment unprepared.

“We’ve used (other instructions) to guide our previous combat (missions),” said Maj. Pat Curtis, a command tactician, C-130 Hercules pilot and weapons officer for the U.S. Air Force Mobility Weapons School. “Some airframes have had good guidance from years of experience. Others, who haven’t flown into a combat zone, lacked a comprehensive manual on tactical employment. Instead, they relied on knowledge passed along with headquarters guidance, locally-produced pamphlets, word of mouth and the like. (The new manual) puts all that knowledge in one place.”

The manual explains the skills aircrews need to fly within the global-mobility role and into a combat role, said Lt. Col. James Fryer, the weapon school’s tactics division chief. It is basic enough for the newest crewmember, yet comprehensive enough for the most experienced instructor.

“This is the manual we’ll hand to new aircrew members that tells them how to (fly) their airplane in combat,” he said. “It gives us a multitude of means of combat employment. For example, for the C-130, we have listed 11 different methods to maintain our time over target on a low-level route. In the KC-135 (Stratotanker volume), there are descriptions of formation visual references, rendezvous techniques and unclassified air-to-air interceptor counter tactics.”

The manual was unveiled during a recent tactics conference at Fort Dix, N.J. Major Curtis said having it finished in time for the conference was a big accomplishment.

“Writing manuals like this usually takes a couple of years to complete, but we did it in a few months,” he said.

“We gave each attendee a copy to take back to (his or her unit),” he said. (Courtesy of AMC News Service)