Aerial cavalry makes life-or-death difference

Paul Koring, Globe & Mail, 28 Oct 06

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KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN — Raining death and destruction from the sky. Making horrific headlines when things go wrong.

Close air support, or CAS, doesn't sound nearly as deadly, nor as crucial, nor as rapid-reacting as it is. But allied warplanes wheeling above or laying down withering fire on Taliban fighters — sometimes only tens of metres from embattled Canadian troops — make a daily life-or-death difference in Afghanistan.

“Our guys sleep better at night when they hear those jets,” said Captain Tim Spears, the senior forward air controller for the Canadian battle group.

Just the sound of the warplanes, or even the drone of an unmanned aerial vehicle, can thwart an attack, sending Taliban fighters scurrying for cover. “They know the sound; they know we can see them and hurt them,” Capt. Spears said.

On balance, Canadian and other NATO troops are far safer and need take far fewer risks because of air power. But it can also go terribly wrong.

Only this week, a fierce controversy was set off when NATO warplanes, targeting Taliban fighters, killed at least 11 civilians, including women and children. Some local Afghan officials set the number of deaths at scores of civilians.

Last month, Canadian soldiers suffered a “friendly fire” attack when a U.S. A-10 Warthog mistakenly sent a burst of cannon fire into a group of Canadian soldiers. One was killed. Dozens were hurt. The careful, complex system of checks and balances failed. But even in the grim aftermath, some of the wounded Canadians credited close air support with saving their lives in the fierce battles of Operation Medusa.

Bombings or missile strikes by NATO's combat aircraft in Afghanistan, mostly American but also British and Dutch, rarely make news, except when things go wrong: Celebratory gunfire at a wedding is mistaken for insurgents shooting; women and children are killed when a bomb hits a Taliban compound or the dreaded “blue on blue” toll of friendly fire occurs.

Without the warplanes, casualties would be far higher among allied ground troops and it would take far more of them to battle the Taliban. On the ground, controllers such as Capt. Spears talk pilots down to targets.

It can happen with astonishing speed. Yesterday, a pair of Royal Navy Harriers working a routine reconnaissance flight with Canadian controllers in the contested Panjwai area west of Kandahar were suddenly called to break off their assignment. There was a TIC, or troops in contact, meaning soldiers under fire and needing what amounts to the aerial cavalry. The Harriers raced to the aid of some Royal Marines and Afghan National Army soldiers pinned down by rocket-propelled grenades further north.

TIC calls take priority over all others. They can divert warplanes already in the air or scramble ready crews sitting at air bases in Bagram and Kandahar. British Harriers, Dutch F-16s, U.S. A-10 Thunderbolts and a variety of attack helicopters provide a mix of always-available air support.

Yesterday, it took just four minutes for the Harrier pilots to establish contact with the forward air controller and another three before the jet screamed low over the Taliban.

“It was pretty hectic when we showed up,” said Royal Navy Lieutenant Tim Flagman, 30, flying lead yesterday in the Harrier pair. His wingman, Lieutenant Brian Simple, 27, said the gunfire and exploding rocket-propelled grenades could be heard over the radio as the controller guided them in. British naval aviators, flying bombing missions for NATO forces ranging from Dutch troops to U.S. special forces, underscore both the scope and the multinational character of the operation.

Canadian troops on the ground have quickly learned to rely on air support. Even to those who knew best its potential, the reality is stunning. Capt. Spears, who has trained for years, said: “I'm still in awe.”

“Most of us have never seen anything like this,” he said. Like the A-10 Warthog that saved a group of pinned-down Canadian troops who were taking casualties and has already lost three vehicles. “We were trying to extricate our guys out there and the A-10s came in and did the job with gun runs” along the far bank of an irrigation canal, Capt. Spears remembered.

Canadian troops are learning just how close the “close” can be in air support. Soldiers who trained in peacetime with bombs dropped nearly two kilometres away are sheltering as massive blasts go off only a few hundred metres away or fast jets lay down gun runs only tens of metres distant.

It's a carefully co-ordinated duet, pilot in the cockpit, forward controller on the ground, working with each other to establish common reference points, plot a route, establish a target and destroy it.

Controllers and pilot, who rarely meet but often know each other by call sign, sometimes share memories of the same strike, albeit from different perspective. Lt. Flagman, who starts his day in an air-conditioned office alongside the busy runway at Kandahar air base and prefers landing on aircraft carriers, recalls a strike against a Taliban site that was rocketing a Canadian outpost.

“We thwacked it with an air burst, a 1000-pound bomb,” he recalled.

For Capt. Spears, that same air strike has meant the position has been mostly quiet since then. But not unwatched. The details are secret but the United States has provided Canadian forward air controllers with portable terminals that allow those on the ground and in the cockpit to look at the same imagery, making the bombing runs more precise.

Sometimes, controllers and pilots who work together repeatedly get to know each other, or at least recognize each other on the radio.

Capt. Spears has tried to take that to another level, bringing some of the Canadian forward air controllers in from the field to meet with the combat pilots who are bombing at their behest. “Now my guys are not just a call sign or a voice on the radio,” he said. “It changes the dynamic.” It means the pilots can put a face and a person they know close to the target site.

Canada is the only country with a large number of ground troops fighting in the south that hasn't deployed combat aircraft. Capt. Spears would like to see some CF-18s in the skies but knows the government has decided not to send any. Like the Royal Navy pilots, Capt Spears said nationality doesn't matter when it comes to providing close air support, especially when there are troops in contact.

Nevertheless, he said, “we are users, not providers” of close air support and “there are times when we, the Canadians, are not the priority” for British and Dutch and U.S. combat aircraft.