1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:05,880 He's doing a self lasing designation, so he has one bomb 2 00:00:07,680 --> 00:00:11,120 and on the first pass doesn't go well. 3 00:00:11,120 --> 00:00:15,160 It doesn't have the the the release bar coming, coming, 4 00:00:15,240 --> 00:00:20,160 coming through. So he's going again and then on 5 00:00:20,160 --> 00:00:24,320 the second pass he's targeting another part of the space. 6 00:00:24,400 --> 00:00:29,120 So we, when you compare the two, the two things, you see that the 7 00:00:29,120 --> 00:00:33,320 waypoint is there, gating is a bit off or whatever, but it's 8 00:00:33,400 --> 00:00:37,640 off by maybe 100 metres, 600 feet maybe. 9 00:00:37,640 --> 00:00:41,400 But the picture is not the same. And at the time you get the 10 00:00:41,400 --> 00:00:45,120 British platoon which is manoeuvring inside the very 11 00:00:45,120 --> 00:00:47,600 small valet. And here it's targeting a kind 12 00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:51,000 of a barrack which is on the upper ground and the bomb goes 13 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:57,160 there, but it's not the, the intended target place the MP. 14 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:04,120 And then I mean, it blast over the British soldiers, nobody's 15 00:01:04,120 --> 00:01:10,680 hurt and it stops. So they send, they send the 2 16 00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:15,000 ship back to the Kaia. Then there's a big debrief and 17 00:01:15,160 --> 00:01:18,360 there was some learning for everybody there. 18 00:01:18,360 --> 00:01:23,320 I mean, with a head up display systems or whatever, I mean you 19 00:01:23,320 --> 00:01:26,440 feel you're confident you're good, but it's not enough. 20 00:01:27,320 --> 00:01:30,040 I mean, you're coming from somewhere to say, OK, they're 21 00:01:30,040 --> 00:01:32,200 bad guys. You don't dive in, set up the 22 00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:34,240 attack mode and and target something. 23 00:01:34,240 --> 00:01:39,000 I mean with friendlies on the ground, you need to be better 24 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:42,240 than that and really see where they are, what they want. 25 00:01:42,240 --> 00:01:45,480 Maybe make them move bad because you will get some rings of 26 00:01:45,520 --> 00:01:48,240 employment for Tropic contact for normal stuff. 27 00:01:48,240 --> 00:01:54,040 So, I mean, this is very precise and yeah, it's old school. 28 00:01:54,040 --> 00:02:00,800 You have binoculars, a pod and and two pairs of of eyes are are 29 00:02:00,800 --> 00:02:03,560 better. At the time the, the guy was 30 00:02:03,560 --> 00:02:06,960 flying with the the US Navy guy and he sends the guy to the 31 00:02:06,960 --> 00:02:09,199 tanker. So the American dude is not 32 00:02:09,199 --> 00:02:12,800 there when the guy is speaking English with the extra pair of 33 00:02:12,800 --> 00:02:14,760 eyes. He has no laser pod because he's 34 00:02:14,760 --> 00:02:20,160 not qualified, but still. So back to my first feeling. 35 00:02:20,640 --> 00:02:25,480 Wanted to drop is not the right answer in combat. 36 00:02:39,560 --> 00:02:42,720 Benji, welcome back to 10% True for the third instalment. 37 00:02:42,720 --> 00:02:45,400 What lucky people we are. Thank you for joining us again. 38 00:02:46,360 --> 00:02:49,480 Thank you for having me for the for the last time, Steve. 39 00:02:51,200 --> 00:02:54,600 So Part 1, you talked about your journey to the cockpit. 40 00:02:54,600 --> 00:02:57,520 You talked about your rationale behind picking Mirage F1 as the 41 00:02:57,520 --> 00:03:00,160 aeroplane you wanted to go to. Even though you were at the top 42 00:03:00,160 --> 00:03:01,480 of your class. You probably could have picked 43 00:03:01,480 --> 00:03:04,560 Rafael or Mirage 2000 or any, any, any of the options that 44 00:03:04,560 --> 00:03:08,000 were available to you. Part 2, you talked about going 45 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:11,960 then to combat in The Mirage F1 and then you talked about moving 46 00:03:11,960 --> 00:03:14,600 across and doing exchange with the Navy and flying the Super E. 47 00:03:15,520 --> 00:03:18,120 We wrapped up I think at the end of the last episode. 48 00:03:18,120 --> 00:03:21,440 Then at the point where you were just about to go and deploy, I 49 00:03:21,440 --> 00:03:26,320 think it was 2007 in the Super F on Dad to Afghanistan and work 50 00:03:26,320 --> 00:03:28,760 with the Rafael's. So that seems like a good place 51 00:03:28,760 --> 00:03:32,240 to pick things up. You did give us a really good 52 00:03:32,240 --> 00:03:35,360 description of what the Super he was like to fly. 53 00:03:35,360 --> 00:03:38,960 You described in the last episode some of the technical 54 00:03:38,960 --> 00:03:42,040 limitations that the aeroplane had or the fact it was a 1950s, 55 00:03:42,040 --> 00:03:46,160 nineteen 60s Aerojet and so had some intrinsic limitations to 56 00:03:46,160 --> 00:03:48,920 it. But maybe it's worth a quick 57 00:03:48,920 --> 00:03:52,960 recap then of what the aeroplane was capable of then when you 58 00:03:52,960 --> 00:03:58,880 went in 2007 to Afghanistan to support operations out there 59 00:03:59,160 --> 00:04:02,800 working with the Rafaels, what was what were the capabilities 60 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:04,960 just briefly of the aeroplane just so people don't have to go 61 00:04:04,960 --> 00:04:07,600 back to that part and listen to it again if if they don't 62 00:04:07,600 --> 00:04:11,040 remember it. Yeah, so to summit up, I, I 63 00:04:11,040 --> 00:04:17,760 joined the Navy in 2005, car calls end of 2005 and deploying 64 00:04:17,760 --> 00:04:22,440 for the first time 2006 for for for month and a half deployment 65 00:04:22,440 --> 00:04:27,400 to Afghanistan. At the time the the aircraft is 66 00:04:27,400 --> 00:04:31,720 called Standard 4, which is an upgrade for the earlier version 67 00:04:31,720 --> 00:04:34,640 and the one that did the Kosovo conflict life force. 68 00:04:35,560 --> 00:04:39,760 What's new in the aircraft RWR, They are equipped with the 69 00:04:39,960 --> 00:04:43,200 Sherlock LWR and normal or an old style. 70 00:04:43,200 --> 00:04:46,960 So Sherlock was designed for The Mirage F1 city, but at the time 71 00:04:47,120 --> 00:04:52,640 the, the city is already into the Eagle Egg RWR. 72 00:04:52,640 --> 00:04:57,560 So this is the version I flew in my early days on the F1 city. 73 00:04:57,920 --> 00:05:02,080 So it's a nice DRFM stuff. Steel. 74 00:05:02,600 --> 00:05:07,000 The the Super eternal is a kind of a multi roll aircraft, but 75 00:05:07,000 --> 00:05:11,880 it's one roll at a time. So you can do Ricky or gunning 76 00:05:12,120 --> 00:05:19,280 or lasing or nuke or slick bomb or exoset, but you cannot do 77 00:05:19,280 --> 00:05:22,760 both at the same times because in the middle of the the 78 00:05:22,760 --> 00:05:28,280 aircraft there is a kind of a big cube that you need to get in 79 00:05:28,280 --> 00:05:33,280 and out with the right version. So it's very specialised for 80 00:05:33,280 --> 00:05:36,360 that. So was good for the French Navy 81 00:05:36,360 --> 00:05:41,440 because between the the F8 and the Rafael F1, there's nothing 82 00:05:41,440 --> 00:05:45,480 so you can do a limited air to air or whatever you can you you 83 00:05:45,480 --> 00:05:49,200 get the multi role that you want from the carrier, but still it's 84 00:05:49,200 --> 00:05:54,560 not the Rafael FF2 full up of the of the Rafael F3 because on 85 00:05:54,560 --> 00:05:57,200 the air to wear, I mean the red eyes, what it is, it's no look, 86 00:05:57,560 --> 00:06:01,720 look down, shut down. Autopilot is a bit limited. 87 00:06:01,960 --> 00:06:06,960 So it's OK. And this is the I mean the 88 00:06:06,960 --> 00:06:10,760 second deployment to Afghanistan they did around I was not there 89 00:06:10,760 --> 00:06:17,720 in 2003 or 4 and then we are coming back in 2006 operation is 90 00:06:17,720 --> 00:06:21,280 named Eraklas. Eraklas, yes. 91 00:06:22,120 --> 00:06:27,560 So this is this is mostly the the scenery and how does it 92 00:06:27,560 --> 00:06:30,080 work? First you get everybody called, 93 00:06:30,160 --> 00:06:34,120 then you do a new system campaign for a week or two 94 00:06:34,120 --> 00:06:39,240 before Christmas and after Christmas everybody, everybody 95 00:06:39,280 --> 00:06:43,120 flies to, to the carrier. One special thing is that the 96 00:06:43,440 --> 00:06:48,560 French Navy is able to fly VFR above 400 to and from the 97 00:06:48,560 --> 00:06:52,160 carrier. So you can just take off and 98 00:06:52,160 --> 00:06:55,280 cruise above everybody else, talk to nobody and go to the 99 00:06:55,280 --> 00:06:59,680 carrier, which they don't do is just in in case of need. 100 00:06:59,680 --> 00:07:05,040 But the, the operational environment allows that the new 101 00:07:05,040 --> 00:07:09,120 land and you start to trend. So you do one or two weeks in 102 00:07:09,120 --> 00:07:15,680 front of Toulon, the Med just to get everybody in shape. 103 00:07:16,040 --> 00:07:19,400 And then you, you start to transit Corsica and you have 104 00:07:19,400 --> 00:07:27,920 interactions with Greece, Egypt. Then you cross the Suez Canal, 105 00:07:27,920 --> 00:07:30,160 which is always very interesting. 106 00:07:30,200 --> 00:07:35,720 I mean, you enter very early in the morning, like 45 AM, all the 107 00:07:35,720 --> 00:07:38,160 aircraft are on the deck. It's super hot. 108 00:07:38,640 --> 00:07:41,800 And you run, people run, they do a sport because it's an offline 109 00:07:41,800 --> 00:07:46,040 day. And by, by noon or 2:00 PM, 110 00:07:46,040 --> 00:07:49,000 you're just, you're just out of the, the canal. 111 00:07:49,400 --> 00:07:55,400 And then you, you carry on in the through the Red Sea exercise 112 00:07:55,400 --> 00:07:58,120 with the Saudis all the time. Nice. 113 00:07:58,400 --> 00:08:01,400 I was deployed 1 as a legend officer in Tabuk. 114 00:08:01,800 --> 00:08:11,400 So in the 15C squadrons. And then you end up flying 115 00:08:11,400 --> 00:08:16,400 against Djibouti because it's it's a Frencher's base strong. 116 00:08:16,400 --> 00:08:22,040 Also you do, we did things against the 2000s and then port 117 00:08:22,040 --> 00:08:25,880 calling Djibouti 3-5 days maximum. 118 00:08:25,880 --> 00:08:28,280 This is the first one. The thing is with the nuclear 119 00:08:28,280 --> 00:08:29,960 carriers, you never go to a port. 120 00:08:30,920 --> 00:08:35,919 I mean, in my time we did a 72 days straight between the two 121 00:08:35,919 --> 00:08:37,919 port call. Well that that's more than two 122 00:08:37,919 --> 00:08:41,000 months without seeing the land. So it's, I mean, you don't need 123 00:08:41,000 --> 00:08:45,320 the fuel. The fuel is is brought by by 124 00:08:45,320 --> 00:08:47,040 supply ships. They come on the side, they 125 00:08:47,040 --> 00:08:50,080 bring the aviation fuel, but the carrier doesn't need any fuel. 126 00:08:50,360 --> 00:08:53,760 So it's kind of kind of long. So a bit of rest in Djibouti and 127 00:08:53,760 --> 00:09:00,080 then aid straight in front of Pakistan as a whole to start the 128 00:09:00,080 --> 00:09:05,960 operations in Afghanistan, which are at the time not ramping up. 129 00:09:07,760 --> 00:09:12,240 What, what does it look like? Mostly it's first you need to go 130 00:09:12,240 --> 00:09:17,000 to Afghanistan. So you launch, you meet up with 131 00:09:19,080 --> 00:09:23,520 either Rafael F1 with a buddy buddy because the Rafael F1 at 132 00:09:23,520 --> 00:09:26,000 the time has no air to ground capability. 133 00:09:26,200 --> 00:09:28,520 So they are just the tankers of the sky. 134 00:09:29,560 --> 00:09:34,360 So at most they cross the border of Afghanistan to say, I've been 135 00:09:34,360 --> 00:09:36,640 there. And then they turn around, climb 136 00:09:36,640 --> 00:09:39,600 Block 5 and and go back to the to the carrier. 137 00:09:40,520 --> 00:09:43,640 So this is it. So you need to do buddy, buddy. 138 00:09:43,640 --> 00:09:47,400 It's roughly an hour, an hour and 15 minutes before the 139 00:09:47,400 --> 00:09:50,040 border. And then you try to top up as 140 00:09:50,040 --> 00:09:54,360 far as possible and reach the first tanker, which was on the 141 00:09:54,360 --> 00:09:57,760 first campaign, mostly a French tanker. 142 00:09:58,440 --> 00:10:05,080 So a guy coming from Manas, Kyrgyzstan, Bischkek coming to 143 00:10:05,080 --> 00:10:10,760 the South picks us up and then you do your Riki, you do your 144 00:10:10,760 --> 00:10:16,480 closer support mission, mostly with a tanker dedicated, which 145 00:10:16,480 --> 00:10:20,160 is easy because you just have to climb or if you again. 146 00:10:20,160 --> 00:10:23,400 So extending the the play time and there are not so many 147 00:10:23,400 --> 00:10:28,440 players in 2006. It's it's kind of quite and 148 00:10:28,440 --> 00:10:34,640 mostly the mission are to the South of Kendall are Gastny in 149 00:10:34,640 --> 00:10:40,440 the Elman valet. We see the building of a Kemper 150 00:10:40,440 --> 00:10:45,200 bastion, this kind of stuff. It's really the Elman valet 151 00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:50,720 stuff 2006 And then after when you're done, we go to the Gulf, 152 00:10:50,800 --> 00:10:56,000 a bit of a work with the UAE and then come back Djibouti again. 153 00:10:56,000 --> 00:10:57,360 And that's four months and a half. 154 00:10:57,480 --> 00:11:01,880 That's a that's a that's a lot. Nothing is going on in 2006, 155 00:11:02,960 --> 00:11:12,720 2007 a bit more tough and and complicated. 1st we get an 156 00:11:12,720 --> 00:11:16,640 exchange pilot, F-14 Tomcat pilot, U.S. 157 00:11:16,640 --> 00:11:23,000 Navy guys galleries, great guy. So I feel the integration with 158 00:11:23,160 --> 00:11:27,760 the, the US car here in, in the carrier box South of Pakistan is 159 00:11:27,760 --> 00:11:31,720 a bit better. So we, we, we, we leap more, we 160 00:11:31,720 --> 00:11:35,200 cross deck, we go there for a day, they come have a bit of 161 00:11:35,200 --> 00:11:40,120 wine, then they come back and so a bit better. 162 00:11:40,120 --> 00:11:44,800 And on the ground the situation is, is really ramping up. 163 00:11:45,040 --> 00:11:52,640 So we have our Squadron Leader dropping first middle of March 164 00:11:53,040 --> 00:11:56,640 doesn't go super well. The carrier is on hold for 2-3 165 00:11:56,640 --> 00:11:59,360 days. Nobody's hurt on the ground, but 166 00:11:59,720 --> 00:12:01,320 it's been a close call for friendlies. 167 00:12:02,720 --> 00:12:07,040 And, and then we, we carry on and we start again the, the 168 00:12:07,040 --> 00:12:14,240 missions and it's everywhere. So you can go northeast of 169 00:12:14,440 --> 00:12:20,600 Kabul, you can go. I mean, we see that the the the 170 00:12:20,600 --> 00:12:28,120 enemy is really active. And my story, not my story, but 171 00:12:28,640 --> 00:12:32,840 what's funny is that at the time we get the Rafael F2 coming on 172 00:12:32,840 --> 00:12:37,760 board, but only with a small capability named echo capability 173 00:12:38,920 --> 00:12:41,320 Echo meaning limited air to ground. 174 00:12:41,720 --> 00:12:47,200 I mean, the Rafael flu in 86 was introduced as just an air to air 175 00:12:47,200 --> 00:12:50,280 with Nomika infrared for it. Just magic tools. 176 00:12:50,840 --> 00:12:56,560 And then it's switching to multi role with, with new systems. 177 00:12:56,560 --> 00:12:59,680 But at the time in 2007, it's able to drop GBO 12. 178 00:13:00,240 --> 00:13:04,440 But it's not an integrated capability, meaning that in the 179 00:13:04,440 --> 00:13:09,200 superior or in the lazing aircraft, you need to time the 180 00:13:09,360 --> 00:13:14,720 the bomb delivery. So you fake the, the, the, the 181 00:13:14,720 --> 00:13:19,440 launching point, you call for 321, pickle the pickle the 182 00:13:19,440 --> 00:13:22,480 bombs, bombs away and then you take the laser for you. 183 00:13:22,480 --> 00:13:27,120 So it just they just push the button and, and drop the GBA 12 184 00:13:27,480 --> 00:13:29,880 live. So they are really your wingman. 185 00:13:29,880 --> 00:13:32,560 So we got the Rafael F1 doing the tanking and now you're 186 00:13:32,560 --> 00:13:36,880 bringing either super E or Rafael F2, but with a limited 187 00:13:36,880 --> 00:13:39,720 capability. And there's a bit of a challenge 188 00:13:40,120 --> 00:13:44,720 with the French Air Force, which is deployed in Manas with the 189 00:13:44,720 --> 00:13:47,800 same capability, doing the same with 2000 DS. 190 00:13:48,880 --> 00:13:53,920 So we do both from the South, the Navy, from the north, the 191 00:13:53,920 --> 00:13:55,560 Air Force. And that's funny because the, 192 00:13:55,720 --> 00:13:59,560 the godfather of my son is in the opposite deployment. 193 00:13:59,920 --> 00:14:03,160 So, well, I'm calling him, I say, are we going to drop? 194 00:14:03,160 --> 00:14:06,040 I'm going to drop whatever. It's just, it's just funny. 195 00:14:06,240 --> 00:14:10,840 And it, it, it will happen to be to be us the, the Navy. 196 00:14:12,720 --> 00:14:16,600 And how does it work? Well, everybody was looking for 197 00:14:16,600 --> 00:14:20,160 that because the Rafael had to be employed operationally. 198 00:14:20,160 --> 00:14:24,040 It's a good selling point. And to say, OK, now we are 199 00:14:24,040 --> 00:14:28,040 entering the, the era of the, of the multi rule. 200 00:14:29,040 --> 00:14:35,280 And so I'm flying with the with the skipper of the 12 Elf so 201 00:14:35,280 --> 00:14:42,040 squadron #12 Tom. We crossed the border and then 202 00:14:42,040 --> 00:14:47,040 they sent us to a troop in contact with British guys. 203 00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:53,800 We see some hires dropping. So from 50 miles away in the pod 204 00:14:53,800 --> 00:14:59,080 I see, I see smoke, whatever we come above and and they leave 205 00:14:59,080 --> 00:15:01,640 the frequency we reach out to see to. 206 00:15:01,640 --> 00:15:06,480 We don't know what's going on seems to be quite and then the 207 00:15:06,480 --> 00:15:13,000 C2 sends us to support Dutch special forces in the the 208 00:15:13,000 --> 00:15:14,920 keypad. Everything is keypad there. 209 00:15:14,920 --> 00:15:20,120 So they have numbers and later so 86CI and we start working 210 00:15:20,120 --> 00:15:22,600 with them. They've been attacked and the 211 00:15:22,600 --> 00:15:26,040 first one is going to be a pickup truck, brand new Land 212 00:15:26,080 --> 00:15:32,360 Rover Land Cruiser. So dropping one, destroying the 213 00:15:33,320 --> 00:15:37,760 the pickup and then they want another one on a compound and we 214 00:15:37,760 --> 00:15:40,920 reset on the second one. So it goes pretty, pretty fast. 215 00:15:40,920 --> 00:15:45,000 I mean it's they are less than than 3 minutes before the first 216 00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:51,040 one and the second one and on the second one because there is 217 00:15:52,120 --> 00:15:57,320 no autopilot and I'm a bit busy lazy. 218 00:16:00,720 --> 00:16:05,600 They, they brought another 2 sheep above and I'm in the 219 00:16:05,600 --> 00:16:12,280 process of calling for the, the bomb release and I look up and 220 00:16:12,280 --> 00:16:14,320 my aircraft has been starting to climb. 221 00:16:14,640 --> 00:16:19,920 So I call for, for Rome, the guy I say Rome climb because I was 222 00:16:19,920 --> 00:16:22,200 climbing and they were just above. 223 00:16:22,680 --> 00:16:28,520 So I mean the, the admin part could have caught up very, very 224 00:16:28,520 --> 00:16:32,680 easily. Stabilising levelling of 225 00:16:32,680 --> 00:16:37,920 dropping the bomb makes short and and then and then we leave 226 00:16:37,920 --> 00:16:42,160 back. Very interesting at the time. 227 00:16:42,760 --> 00:16:48,200 There's an issue on the Rafael that they saw in during the the 228 00:16:48,200 --> 00:16:52,160 transit from France to the chaos because they didn't start with 229 00:16:52,160 --> 00:16:55,600 us. They rejoin us in the Red Sea 230 00:16:56,120 --> 00:16:58,960 because they were still developing the, the capability 231 00:16:59,560 --> 00:17:04,760 and they had an engine frame out on the left engine by memory at 232 00:17:04,760 --> 00:17:12,680 5 hours, 59 minutes, 59 seconds left engine goes out on the 233 00:17:12,680 --> 00:17:16,079 transit. OK, They, they looked at that, 234 00:17:16,079 --> 00:17:21,119 didn't see anything. And then we are out of the, the 235 00:17:21,119 --> 00:17:23,599 target getting all the fuel we can. 236 00:17:23,640 --> 00:17:27,680 It's already a long mission. We come back to the, to the 237 00:17:27,680 --> 00:17:30,480 carrier where in the corridor. The corridor is the kind of a 238 00:17:30,480 --> 00:17:33,400 big tube which is inside the Pakistani airspace. 239 00:17:33,880 --> 00:17:36,200 And then the Rafael flames out again. 240 00:17:38,440 --> 00:17:43,040 And the Rafael contrary to most of the aircraft doesn't relight 241 00:17:43,440 --> 00:17:48,480 IR fast, it relights slow. So we are transiting let's say 242 00:17:48,720 --> 00:17:52,360 340 and then we call for emergency descent. 243 00:17:52,360 --> 00:17:56,000 It's going to, we're going to relight at 16,000 feet going 244 00:17:56,000 --> 00:17:57,840 down. So we exit the corridor into the 245 00:17:57,840 --> 00:18:02,120 civilian air space. There's an Air France guy who is 246 00:18:02,120 --> 00:18:04,840 there who's making the radio relay with Karachi control 247 00:18:04,840 --> 00:18:09,000 because we cannot do it. Then relighting. 248 00:18:09,760 --> 00:18:13,560 And then we make a kind of a safety, I mean a straightening 249 00:18:13,960 --> 00:18:17,160 trap for the Rafael and then the night trap. 250 00:18:17,480 --> 00:18:21,240 And everybody's happy except that there is a French Air Force 251 00:18:21,240 --> 00:18:24,680 guy inside, inside the, the 2 ship. 252 00:18:25,560 --> 00:18:30,240 So the, the Navy is, I would say really is kind of the, the 253 00:18:30,240 --> 00:18:33,840 debate if they need to be happy or not because it's not a full 254 00:18:33,840 --> 00:18:35,800 Navy thing. It's a, it's a joint. 255 00:18:36,080 --> 00:18:40,120 So kind of kind of tough. But you get to the, the deputy 256 00:18:40,120 --> 00:18:43,240 of the joint chief, I mean, writing an e-mail saying, hey, 257 00:18:43,240 --> 00:18:46,920 guys, you did good. It was, it was OK, but still a 258 00:18:46,920 --> 00:18:52,080 very, very busy mission on this one. 259 00:18:52,560 --> 00:18:57,960 It was 28th of March 2007. And and then the the mission 260 00:18:57,960 --> 00:19:00,400 carries on and the guy is dropping. 261 00:19:01,440 --> 00:19:05,920 If we come back to the admin can kill you in combat operation. 262 00:19:05,920 --> 00:19:08,760 I mean normally you say the first cause of death is the 263 00:19:08,760 --> 00:19:12,000 wingman and then it's the surface to air. 264 00:19:12,240 --> 00:19:17,920 Kind of a rule of thumb. Another story which happened to 265 00:19:17,920 --> 00:19:23,800 me was we were transiting 4 ship 4 Superintenda with the KC 10 N 266 00:19:23,800 --> 00:19:28,120 of Kabul. The KC 10 has an issue with the 267 00:19:28,120 --> 00:19:31,840 pump and say hey guys, I'm unable to refuel because the we, 268 00:19:33,680 --> 00:19:37,400 we, we have something going on. So we only refuel in case of 269 00:19:37,400 --> 00:19:39,920 emergency. OK, stand by. 270 00:19:40,240 --> 00:19:42,560 We are almost ready to divert to Kabul. 271 00:19:42,960 --> 00:19:45,640 And then I look at my fuel and then the Super E, there is 272 00:19:45,640 --> 00:19:50,880 something which really weird, which is if you burn some of the 273 00:19:50,880 --> 00:19:55,880 fuel on the back tanks, you cannot refuel them again ever in 274 00:19:55,880 --> 00:19:58,520 flight. I mean they are gone for good. 275 00:19:59,960 --> 00:20:03,760 And I have a valve which is stuck open or closed or 276 00:20:03,760 --> 00:20:06,120 whatever. When I look, when I do the 277 00:20:06,120 --> 00:20:11,600 assessment, I have left 1.1 tonne unable to refuel more than 278 00:20:11,600 --> 00:20:16,840 1.5 tonne instead of the 4.3 which is normal. 279 00:20:17,640 --> 00:20:22,240 So I declare an emergency and I say OK the. 280 00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:29,640 The my #3 with the deputy of the squadron, I would say it's not 281 00:20:29,640 --> 00:20:31,800 helping me much. Say, yeah, divert to Kabul. 282 00:20:31,800 --> 00:20:34,640 We don't care. OK, so we all turn around. 283 00:20:35,560 --> 00:20:41,280 Yeah, this is how it is very friendly, but not I like the 284 00:20:41,280 --> 00:20:45,880 Navy guys, but he was not. And then we turn around and the 285 00:20:45,880 --> 00:20:50,520 plan is, well, the tanker is going to drag us, me over at the 286 00:20:50,520 --> 00:20:54,200 carrier 5000 feet, which is what happened at the end. 287 00:20:55,680 --> 00:20:59,840 But with all that first kind of emergency for the KC 10 and us, 288 00:20:59,840 --> 00:21:04,840 we turn back and we don't change level, which is normally odd and 289 00:21:04,840 --> 00:21:06,400 even. You're going north, you're going 290 00:21:06,400 --> 00:21:10,400 South. Well, my wingman is calling for 291 00:21:10,400 --> 00:21:13,240 radar contact, 20 miles head, whatever. 292 00:21:14,080 --> 00:21:17,560 And we look at that and it's a prowler and we are inside the 293 00:21:17,560 --> 00:21:22,880 block and the prowler is just crossing 200 feet below under 294 00:21:22,880 --> 00:21:25,480 the KC10 with four super ES on the side. 295 00:21:26,040 --> 00:21:27,600 Why? Because we didn't climb or we 296 00:21:27,600 --> 00:21:30,000 didn't descent and everybody forgot it. 297 00:21:30,280 --> 00:21:34,280 So I mean, this deconfliction stuff happen. 298 00:21:34,880 --> 00:21:39,040 I have another one. I mean, I almost died taking MQ 299 00:21:39,040 --> 00:21:43,120 9 inside the refuelling truck north of Mazarishali for one 300 00:21:43,120 --> 00:21:45,640 day. I'm there on the wing. 301 00:21:46,080 --> 00:21:51,480 I just descend a bit to go centre line in AKC 135 and there 302 00:21:51,480 --> 00:21:55,120 is a Ripper just crossing under. Yeah. 303 00:21:55,800 --> 00:22:00,960 So it's you see that the the environment is full of metal. 304 00:22:01,120 --> 00:22:05,720 I mean everybody and, and it, it's becoming complicated really 305 00:22:05,720 --> 00:22:09,200 because people are shooting ground to ground. 306 00:22:09,200 --> 00:22:12,600 So you have to avoid some keypad to do a show of force. 307 00:22:12,880 --> 00:22:16,920 You go 3 keypads away, go down, start low level, which is the 308 00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:22,120 most unsafe position, do your show of force and go to another 309 00:22:22,120 --> 00:22:24,720 keypad climb again. You get medevac helicopters 310 00:22:24,720 --> 00:22:27,200 crossing while you're dropping. I mean, it's it's all over the 311 00:22:27,200 --> 00:22:30,200 place. So I would say it's good to do 312 00:22:30,640 --> 00:22:33,960 combat, but it's great to survive it and watch out for all 313 00:22:33,960 --> 00:22:38,440 the guys there. I mean bigger beginning for for 314 00:22:38,440 --> 00:22:42,840 situation awareness on this one all the time. 315 00:22:42,840 --> 00:22:48,320 Wow. So these are in short, my, my 316 00:22:48,320 --> 00:22:53,280 stories of yeah, of Afghanistan with the with the Super League, 317 00:22:53,840 --> 00:23:00,320 which was in, I would say nice aircraft, but that's why we 318 00:23:00,560 --> 00:23:04,360 well, they deployed them underground in 2008 because in 319 00:23:04,360 --> 00:23:11,280 2008 the carrier is is done for maintenance goes every of 678 320 00:23:11,280 --> 00:23:14,480 years. Whatever you need to to do stuff 321 00:23:14,480 --> 00:23:18,880 on it at least I mean scrub the deck, repair the repair the deck 322 00:23:18,920 --> 00:23:22,160 paint, but also things with the nuclear reactor. 323 00:23:22,160 --> 00:23:26,160 So we going to deploy them. I'm not part of the deployment, 324 00:23:26,160 --> 00:23:31,120 but I'm in charge of the transit from as I told you from 325 00:23:32,040 --> 00:23:36,840 previously, we do Landy Visio, Brittany to Constanza with a 326 00:23:36,840 --> 00:23:43,160 tanker stop in Romania and then we end over them over the border 327 00:23:43,160 --> 00:23:47,440 and the landing. Canada are at the time they are 328 00:23:47,440 --> 00:23:53,240 now in standard 5 plus, which means we get the knee pad and we 329 00:23:53,240 --> 00:24:00,920 get the the VHF radio encrypted to be able to to talk secure 330 00:24:00,920 --> 00:24:04,880 with the guys on the ground without being half quick or 331 00:24:04,880 --> 00:24:06,760 crypto. It's already crypto equipped, 332 00:24:06,760 --> 00:24:12,800 but not VHF, so a bit better. And on the way back we bring 333 00:24:12,800 --> 00:24:16,880 back the raffles which were encounter also at this time F2 334 00:24:16,920 --> 00:24:24,120 full capability and we we bring them back to France straight 3/3 335 00:24:24,120 --> 00:24:29,680 are file with a French Air Force KC135 and it was in fact the 336 00:24:29,680 --> 00:24:34,080 first stepper shore deployment for the French Navy since 337 00:24:34,280 --> 00:24:36,400 Indochina. Really. 338 00:24:37,160 --> 00:24:42,920 Yeah, which is quite remarkable because in a way, I mean being 339 00:24:42,920 --> 00:24:47,320 on the ground, I mean you can, and Kander R is the the perfect 340 00:24:47,320 --> 00:24:49,720 example. You can take off and drop 10 341 00:24:49,720 --> 00:24:52,840 minutes after in the 30 miles range of Kander R because 342 00:24:52,840 --> 00:24:57,040 there's and there have been a rocket attack and, and and they 343 00:24:57,040 --> 00:25:00,880 have the location and you just do that when you far, far, far 344 00:25:00,880 --> 00:25:03,920 away with the carrier. It's good because you have the 345 00:25:04,520 --> 00:25:08,840 kind of the freedom of action. You can move around. 346 00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:13,760 You don't need any diplomatic clearance Yes, but still with no 347 00:25:13,760 --> 00:25:16,720 tanker, you don't go anywhere because the buddy buddy 348 00:25:16,720 --> 00:25:21,240 capability doesn't offer you the the play time that that you 349 00:25:21,240 --> 00:25:24,400 need. So I, I thought at the time it 350 00:25:24,400 --> 00:25:29,080 was smart to to deploy the Super ES to Kandahar and they were 351 00:25:30,080 --> 00:25:33,360 they were also, I mean a bit ahead of the Air Force, 352 00:25:33,360 --> 00:25:36,080 honestly, because they were it was the first employment of the 353 00:25:36,080 --> 00:25:41,080 GPU 49. So it's, it's a G B12 with AGPS 354 00:25:41,080 --> 00:25:46,960 capability and I mean allows you to to drop on coordinates or to 355 00:25:46,960 --> 00:25:49,640 lay something which is which is moving. 356 00:25:49,840 --> 00:25:53,760 And at the time, I mean the, the 2000 DS and the the Rafael, I 357 00:25:53,760 --> 00:25:57,640 think they added by maybe 2010 or 11. 358 00:25:57,640 --> 00:25:59,800 So the Navy is kind of a start up. 359 00:26:00,120 --> 00:26:04,600 You get 2 squadrons and 1/2 very small, but it's very agile. 360 00:26:04,600 --> 00:26:08,240 I mean, you identify something, you bring the technician, you 361 00:26:08,240 --> 00:26:10,480 deal with it and then it's on the aircraft. 362 00:26:10,560 --> 00:26:13,240 It's experimental, but still it works. 363 00:26:14,400 --> 00:26:17,960 Air Force stuff is bigger. I mean, it's procurement. 364 00:26:19,200 --> 00:26:23,520 You have a need, you build a capability, you test it, 365 00:26:23,520 --> 00:26:25,720 whatever. And then at 10 years down the 366 00:26:25,720 --> 00:26:28,480 road, you're still you, you don't have it. 367 00:26:28,600 --> 00:26:31,560 I mean, they, they were very agile for that. 368 00:26:33,280 --> 00:26:37,920 And then it was the the end for me 2008 last flight coming back 369 00:26:37,920 --> 00:26:42,400 to I went to the to the Academy. So find The Mirage F1 again 370 00:26:43,560 --> 00:26:50,600 Captain TB 10 and and I was it end of the my Navy stuff. 371 00:26:50,680 --> 00:26:53,080 Still have my buddies my Bros.