Photo By Michael Crane | Seven C-130 Hercules aircraft prepared for a formation flight at Rosecrans Air...... read more read more
In a packed, medium-sized trailer, dozens of Air Force aviators in green flight suits sit shoulder to shoulder. At the front of the room, six Airmen sit at separate tables. Each takes a turn briefing the crowd on a flying mission they meticulously planned over the last 36 hours. These six—experienced instructor pilots and navigators—are students of the C-130H Weapons Instructor Course (WIC) at Rosecrans Air National Guard Base. They are in the middle of a six-month-long, PhD level course that is part of the U.S. Air Force Weapons School.
Their task is to plan, lead, and execute a large-scale formation mission involving 11 C-130H Hercules aircraft. The students are graded on their ability to react to simulated ground and air threats and conduct a mass equipment airdrop.
“This was the first time in the course that we had guest crews as part of the execution of a sortie,” said Lt. Col. Jason Riggs, director of operations for the C-130H WIC. “I believe that this gave the students a unique opportunity where they were able to plan a mission and then give it to crews that had zero idea of what the mission was and then go execute.”
Planning for this extensive training event began over three months ago when Maj. Robby “Stone” Walling, the Advanced Tactical Airlift (ATA) phase manager for the WIC, reached out to various units for support. Of the 11 participating aircraft, seven launched from Rosecrans. Those aircraft were flown by the Missouri Air National Guard’s (ANG) 139th Airlift Wing, the Illinois ANG’s 182nd Airlift Wing, an Air Force Reserve (AFRC) unit from Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Georgia, and the WIC itself.
The remaining four aircraft launched from Minneapolis, representing both Reserve and Guard units from the 934th and 133rd Airlift Wings. This required the students to solve a complex coordination challenge: synchronizing two formations that launched from separate locations.
Walling praised the students' performance, noting that they successfully joined both formations near Salina, Kansas, within 29 seconds of reaching the same airspace. “They did a really nice job of planning all that,” he said.
“[Walling] was able to leverage relationships in the community to build the plan that allowed for the 11-ship flight,” said Riggs. “This is a small sample of the great work that is done over here.”
The six students from AFRC and ANG completed WIC’s first phase, Employment Fundamentals, before tackling their first Advanced Tactical Airlift mission in an 11-ship sortie. This phase runs alongside Integration Fundamentals, leading to the final Weapons School Integration (WSINT) at Nellis AFB, Nevada.
Walling is the ATA phase manager and this is the second time he has been a WIC instructor. He is a 2022 graduate whose experience in academic training environments is extensive, having served as a cadre member of the Advanced Airlift Tactics Training Center since 2016.
“It's pretty common for squadrons to fly a two-ship, maybe sometimes a four-ship,” Walling explained. “It's easy to fly a two-ship because you only have one guy behind you. But how do you go about putting multiple airplanes in the same airspace, and what are the second and third order effects in a dynamic RF and IR threat environment. Those are the kind of problem sets we have the WUGs solve.”
Walling highlighted the challenges of formation flying, explaining how a single movement by the lead aircraft or an enemy engagement at the rear can impact the entire formation. The WIC seeks to prepare aircrew for those types of scenarios.
“We're going to measure with a micrometer, but in execution it equates to marking it with a crayon, and then cutting with a chainsaw,” Walling said, explaining that they analyze everything—from how the aircraft slow down to altitudes, bank angles, airspeed, deceleration, and acceleration. “You can plan to the yard, but in reality, when you're moving through space and time in a big airplane, you're never going to be able to fly that exact parameter. But we are going in with the most precise argument for execution to allow the variability within execution to still meet the commander’s intent while maintaining an acceptable level of risk.”
The 11-ship formation included different versions of the C-130H, some equipped with older engines and others with NP 2000 eight-bladed propellers, creating additional problem-solving challenges for the students.
Another critical component of the exercise involved simulated surface-to-air threats. Walling worked with the Kansas ANG's Smoky Hill Range, which employs a joint threat emitter to simulate enemy attacks. “This interacts with our radar warning receivers that allow us to get the realism of being targeted by surface-based radar missile systems,” he explained. The students were graded on their responses to these simulated threats.
The formation also executed airdrops, requiring coordination with a Kansas ANG tactical air control party member at the drop zone. The 139th Logistics Readiness Squadron’s air terminal function also played a crucial role by securing and loading the airdrops into the aircraft and driving from St. Joseph to Salina to retrieve them.
The flight lasted about 3 hours and ultimately served as preparation for the final phase of the WIC during which students will participate in a joint forcible entry operation with an even greater number of aircraft.
“For them to basically plan from cradle to grave, in the course of a day and a half, just really speaks to the acumen and ability of the students we have,” said Walling.
| Date Taken: | 03.20.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 04.03.2025 10:12 |
| Story ID: | 494464 |
| Location: | ST. JOSEPH, MISSOURI, US |
| Web Views: | 343 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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