The Royal Canadian Air Force’s 401st Tactical Fighter Squadron deployed to Texas this summer for its annual force-generation detachment to work alongside US forces.
THE ROYAL CANADIAN Air Force’s 401st Tactical Fighter Squadron (TFS) is based at Cold Lake, Alberta, and it is Canada’s oldest flying squadron, having celebrated its centenary on November 20, 2018. The unit deployed en masse to NAS Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base, Texas, earlier this year for its annual ‘Sandy Fleece’ exercise, which included 13 CF-188s supported by a CC-130HT Hercules tanker and a quartet of Alpha Jets operated by Top Aces, the civilian adversary training company.
Squadron commander Lt Col F. G. Rock told Combat Aircraft: ‘We go on multiple detachments, but we do ‘Sandy Fleece’ once a year. Normally, we are training across the spectrum of mission sets. However, on this exercise we decided to take a phased approach. We started with basic fighter maneuvers [BFM].’ This was a mix of 1-v-1 and 2-v-2 engagements. ‘The last week centered around defensive counter-air,’ he added. Most of the training utilized local ranges such as the Brownwood Military Operations Area (MOA) and the bombing range loc…
