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HMS COLLINGWOOD
The
AOC UK Chapter presents a commendation and a cheque for £100 to the best
student on the Royal Navy Petty Officer (EW) Professional Qualifying Course and
there can be up to three courses per year. However, this award is by no means
automatic and must be warranted. We therefore congratulate PO John Keiller who
has won the latest award - the first for two years - which was presented to him
on 7 May at HMS COLLINGWOOD by our past president, Bob Andrews.
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HMS DAUNTLESS
We are very grateful indeed
to Captain Richard Powell RN for agreeing to host a visit by 23 Old Crows to
his destroyer DAUNTLESS on 23 June. Our thanks also go to L/S(EW) Perry Jarrom
and L/S(EW) Michael Singer who looked after us superbly on the day and gave us
an excellent guided tour of this latest ship to join the fleet. We believe
everyone took away something that impressed them or confirmed current issues.
Our Vice President Chris
Howe MBE presents an engraved AOC
UK
Chapter plaque to the EW team
NOTES FROM
DONNINGTON PARK SERVICES by Roger Blackburn
The
15th Shephard/AOC Annual Conference was held at the Estrel
Conference Centre, Berlin, between 10 and 12 May. As a regular attendee at
these events you meet many old friends, so even before I had checked in a
recognisable voice behind me said “Welcome to Donnington Park Services”. He was
not too far off the mark as the food court atrium at the hotel’s main entrance
gave the impression of that well known M1 service station. The rooms too were
based on an upmarket Travelodge. However, the hotel staff provided excellent
service throughout but it was a pity that the venue was not more centrally
located in the beautiful city of Berlin.That
having been said, this was one of the better unclassified conferences I
have attended. Our UK Chapter President, John Clifford, did an
excellent job of pulling together an “outstanding” programme in the face of several
“volcanic ashed” no shows. The programme consisted of just the right amount of
papers from operators with experience of current operations, EW policy and, as
usual, sheer marketing.
For me, two papers shone
out. Firstly, an initial attempt by the AOC to define EW terminology, to separate
EW from IO and Cyber. I know that not all of us will agree with all the terms
but it is a start and maybe we will end up with a good dictionary of EW terms
or even a successor to the EWRCC Taxonomy. Secondly, there was a different
approach to Counter-IED given by Major General (Retd) Chandra from the Indian
Army
VISITS AND EVENTS
Royal Navy EW Branch Reunion, HMS Collingwood, 24 September 2010.
AOC 47th Annual EW Symposium &
Convention, Atlanta, USA, 3-7 October 2010
DEHS Autumn
Symposium, Defence Academy Shrivenham, 14 October 2010.
No 360 (RN/RAF)
Squadron Association Reunion, RAF Wyton, 23 October 2010
6th
Classified EW Symposium, Defence Academy Shrivenham, 1-2 December 2010
AOC UK Chapter Christmas Dinner, London, 10 December 2010
Dstl, Porton Down TBA.
Defence Intelligence & Security Centre, Chicksands, Bedfordshire.
This is now being
arranged and
is likely to be in the August/September timeframe.
 | 225 SIGNAL SQUADRON (ECM) (FP), 10 SIGNAL REGIMENT |
Throughout
the whole of 2009 the Squadron was focussed on the force generation and
preparation of Operational Support Teams (OST) to support ISAF in Afghanistan. These
teams ensured that critical ECM Force Protection equipment was properly
distributed, maintained and configured to enable Commanders protected freedom
of manoeuvre despite the Radio Controlled IED (RCIED) threat. During the period
teams relocated to Forward Operating Bases and patrol bases to improve the
delivery of direct support to front line patrols and sub units. This
dramatically improved the availability of life saving ECM (FP) equipment by
reducing repair times. Conducting this support activity close to the forward
line also reduced the need to use critical helicopter assets. This new concept
of operations required significant training to provide deploying OSTs with the
requisite military skills essential for forward base combat operations.
In
addition to the essential ECM support to UK ISAF Units, 225 Signal Squadron
provided considerable assistance to NATO and ISAF coalition nations. Using the UK’s experience
in this area, the Squadron has helped many coalition units develop there own indigenous
capability and TTPs. In some instances, UK soldiers were embedded within
other nations’ battle groups to supply front line assistance and training.
Whilst
continuing to focus their main effort on the ISAF commitment, the Squadron also
had to coordinate a gradual withdrawal of the capability from Iraq. This was
a huge logistical challenge requiring the location, maintenance and calibration
of thousands of items of equipment prior to being deployed immediately on the
growing ISAF operations in Afghanistan.
This considerable task was achieved ahead of time and without reducing the
coverage or force protection of the remaining troops. Those members of the
Squadron not deployed in Afghanistan
or Iraq
were heavily tasked with the delivery of all ECM (FP) training to deploying UK troops,
training approximately 25,000 troops over the year.
The
importance of 225 Signal Squadron has been recognised by it becoming a critical
component of the UK Counter-IED Task Force. However, the real measure of the Squadron’s
success has been the significant reduction in the effect of RC-IEDs during the
period. Countering the RC-IED threat is one of the most relevant uses of EW in
current ISAF operations. Given the high tempo of operations and the crucial
role that 225 Signal Squadron has played in the protection of UK and
coalition ISAF forces, the AOC UK
Chapter has no hesitation in commending the Squadron for its outstanding service.
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No 360
(RN/RAF) SQUADRON REUNION
This year's reunion dinner will be held at RAF Wyton on Saturday 23 October 2010. This
is an amended date.
Members who are not already in contact with the Squadron Association
and wish to attend should contact our AOC
UK Chapter Secretary, Roger Hannaford, through our web site.
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Letter from the President of the UK Chapter
It seems only five minutes ago that I wrote the last letter to you,
just before Christmas! Talk about time flying. The UK Chapter has been very active and
I want to touch on a couple of highlights.
We have had some great news. Individual Board members put forward two
members, both of whom have served the Chapter with great gusto for many years,
for the highly sought after and competed AOC
2010 Anton D. Brees Life Achievement Award. I am truly delighted to announce
that Roger Blackburn and David Kitching have both been given this honour. I am
sure that you will all join me in offering them our thanks for their years of
effort and our congratulations for this recognition.
To harp back for a moment to an old theme of mine, there are certainly
many in the field of EW in the UK
who also deserve to be recognised for their work over many years. The Board can
only do so much. We need you, all the membership, to participate in Chapter
activities, not least by nominating deserving members for awards. It is an easy
and relatively painless process and details are always on the HQ website which
can also be accessed from our own website. Please, over the next year, put your
thinking caps on and let us nominate more UK members for awards. You know it
makes sense!
We have had some great visits over the years. Although I was out of the
country and missed it, I hear the visit to HMS Dauntless was outstanding. Our
thanks go to Cdr Iain Breckenridge OBE, our naval representative, who
originated the visit and to Chris Howe
MBE, our VP, who did all the organising.
If you know of an interesting EW-related place to visit or can host a
visit yourself, don’t be shy and please let us know. We are easily contacted
via the website.
We have a superb new Chapter flyer of which we can all be proud. Thank
you, Paul Burrows, for the use of your graphic artist. It’s amazing the talent
there is out there! Please download, print or request copies of the flyer and
use them to grow the Chapter. We need more, younger and diverse members to keep
the Chapter relevant. Talking about which, Board members arranged a number of
operational speakers at EW conferences including Shrivenham last December and
the AOC/Shephard conference in Berlin in May - and
intend to continue doing so. Feedback has been extremely positive so do try to
hear these war fighters if only to see what a great job EW is doing in everyday
operations.
Finally, the AOC elections
on-line voting started today. Personally, I voted for change, in terms of both
the corporate AOC President elect
and a new International Director. Bob Andrews, your past President, is standing
for the latter and I know he would make a great and dedicated representative
for all European interests. He also has an outstanding record in industry which
would bring much-needed perspective to the international AOC. The AOC
President in the past has tended to have an air background. I think it is time
that someone with experience of the current land battle and recent experience
at the top of EW in the Pentagon took up the reins for a while. We need someone
who has achieved a great deal for EW and is actively engaged in supporting
current operations. Maybe you can guess for whom I voted? I think she, Colonel
Laurie Buckhout, would make a great President.
Bye For now !
John Clifford OBE
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