Attack from the Air

Capt. Viktor Langó, a fighter pilot of the HDF 59th Szentgyörgyi Dezső Air Base (Kecskemét) told us that each day a two-ship formation takes off from Kecskemét and executes the missions assigned to them in one of the five designated airspace coordination areas (ACAs) over Slovenia. The organizers have prepared a separate scenario for each ACA, but these “scripts" keep changing, just like the airspace sectors, the intercept controllers and the targets. For example, on 6th June, the first day, they carried out a suppression of enemy air defence (SEAD) mission and destroyed a surface-to-air missile (SAM) unit. They are flying only air-to-ground missions without carrying live ammunition, so they only simulate the dropping of laser-guided bombs, the use of onboard autocannon and the launch of Maverick missiles. After landing, a computer system evaluates the number of hits scored (damage assessment).

JTACs are in direct radio contact with the strike aircraft. Very roughly, their task is to provide guidance for the aircraft to ensure that they hit the target. At the same time, they have to take into account some limiting factors so, for example, they must deconflict the aircraft and the artillery fire support to minimize friendly fire. They also have to make every effort to minimize collateral damage i.e. destruction of unintended targets in the engagement area, which can be achieved, for example, by choosing the proper final attack headings (FAH).
The on-site instructors evaluate the effectiveness of the JTAC after each mission. The exercise provides both aircrews and JTACs with an excellent opportunity to develop the Close Air Support (CAS) capability that last year Hungary declared to the Visegrád Four EU Battle Group (V4 EUBG).

Photos from the author’s archives