Davide Daverio goes behind the scenes with VFC-204 ‘River Rattlers’ in New Orleans to discover how the ‘aggressor’ unit operates
Almost 40 years have passed since the F-5N Tiger IIs appeared in the movie Top Gun, playing the part of the fictional MiG-28s belonging to an undefined hostile state. The casting was not far from the role the aircraft has in real life.
The F-5N still equips some ‘aggressor’ squadrons which specialize in acting as an Adversary Air (ADAIR) force during training sessions for US Navy and USMC pilots. One of these ADAIR units is the US Navy Reserve’s (USNR’s) Fighter Squadron Composite 204 (VFC-204) ‘River Rattlers’, based at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base (NAS JRB) New Orleans in Louisiana.
An Intelligence Game
As previously mentioned, ADAIR squadrons play the role of ‘enemy’ units against Navy and Marine pilots who need to increase their knowledge and understanding of the different tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs) used by overseas …
