The work we do assuring that naval defensive capabilities are as robust as they can be is a task we have delivered successfully for the past four decades.
Draken has, since the 1980s, provided an adversary force against multi-national naval forces, simulating missile threats from the air and land against warships, helping to calibrate radars, as well as towing targets on cables several kilometres long for use in live fire missions. This specialised flying relies acutely on the experience of our teams delivering the training.
These are a subset of the many mission profiles that we fly daily, but an essential element in maintaining the preparedness of forces at sea.
Whatever sortie we are providing, our approach is to test the whole force, and not just the individual.
A typical example is the work we do alongside the UK’s Royal Navy, in multi-national large-force exercises such as the Strike Warrior series which take place over the course of several weeks.
With our combined fleet of Falcon 20 electronic warfare jets and L-159E “Honey Badger” live Red Air aggressor aircraft, we can emulate enemy tactics closely allowing the entire Carrier Support Group to train their response against a highly realistic air threat. This is critical in maintaining the requisite standard of operational readiness.
Towing aerial targets on a cable several kilometres long is necessary in order to test a ship’s gunnery. A good example is the Phalanx Close In Weapon System (CIWS) gunnery shoot Draken conducted with RFA Tidespring, the first of four 39,000 ton Tide-class tankers built to support the UK Royal Navy. Prior to the exercise, she had never fired either of her two CIWS systems.
Draken’s Falcon 20, in target tow configuration, flew successful sorties against her, presenting a CIWS target at a precise height, speed and distance, first for the forward gun, then the aft gun, to track, engage and fire at.
