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21
CER SENIN
Nr. 3 (150)
2017
w w w . r o a f . r o
INTEGRITY – COMMITMENT – TENACITY
colleagues as well, and all this works very nicely.
So ,yes, everybody here has been on operations
before (Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Middle East).
But theyhadpreviouslyworkedtogether
or they are kind of heterogeneous?
It’s a really good question. We don’t do that.
The Squadron is together and the engineers too.
Everywhere else are 5 people from a station, 5
peoplefromanotherone,expertsfromhere,experts
fromthere, so I bring themall together
. Everyone
in the Royal Air Forces is used to this concept
and they know they will come to work with
people that they have never seen before, but
within a week there’s a solid team working
together
, we have the training, we use the same
procedures.
Howdo you spend you free time here?
We don’t have a huge amount of free time,
we’restillquitebusy,butweareenjoyingConstanta
when we got the chance. Also we participate in
Scoala Altfel program, the kids will come in here
toseetheTyphoons.This isverygoodforus,because
we feel very welcome. On Saturdays we go
downtown, have some food, maybe watch some
cinema, it’s almost like being at home .
We work very closely to British embassy to
organize our free time. We’ve been to Brasov, and
every week we send there a group of people, we
visitedBranCastle. Andalsowesendthepeople to
visit Bucharest, by train.
For me, it’s really important that even if
we are on operations you got to learn the
culture, understand the people, you need to
integrate.
Tell us about the differences or
similarities, regarding other places you’ve
been.
It’sverydifficult tooperate inadifferentculture,
you have to understand it in order to operate
effectively.
Wemay do things slightly different than you,
but I found here that people are willing to learn.
Forexample, everynightweswipeuphangarsand
cleaneverythingup, and theRomanianguys said
“what a great idea!”, are starting to do that that
too, theyare learning fromus, butweare learning
from themalso.
In termof similarities,what I loveabout being
here is I don’t feel that I’mona completely foreign
land, small things as a warm Hello! are very
important, or a nice conversation after we close
the gates in the evening.
MiG-21andTyphoonarecompletelydifferent
in the ways of operating. And you now have the
F-16, which is fantastic, and there is also a big
difference between them . The pilots and airmen
are adapting tonewoperating andmaintenance
procedures.
What means NATO certification for Air
Policing for you?
NATO airspace is the same all over, and we
must police it. The certification for air policing it’s
thesamealloverNATO. IfaRomaniandetachament
we’ll come to UK and do the same thing, they will
need the same accreditation like us here.
We will do everything that our Romanian
colleaguesdo, to interceptany foreignaircraft.We
also have people in CRC, your Control Center, to
ensure interoperability. We work the same as
Romanians under CAOC Torrejon and receive
mission approval from there.
How are you getting along during fly
missionswithRomanians, intermsof tactical
language?
I knewwe are coming into anAir Force that is
grasping the modern era of aviation, so we have
similar tactical language.
Wecanseethatyou’rereallygrowing,Wecame
in to a country that it’s like a sponge, willing to
learn, we found people that want to fly with us,
that want to to absorb as much information as
possible.
We trained and flewwith the Pumas, the
fighterhelicopter, andthatwasneverdone in
Romania before
. We’ll be doing it again, they
loved it andwe loved it, too. It’s a skill that we got,
that we practiced back home, and nowwe get to
do this here. We did a training exercise, kind of
playing cat and mouse, the Typhoon in the sky
circlying around the Puma like a shark.
What’syourexpectationsafteryoufinish
your 4 months mission here, what do you
expect to accomplish ?
It’s the first time NATO has been here doing
enhancedair policing.We’renot here to takeover,
we’re here absolutely to work alongside you, our
Romanian brothers in NATO. I love it. And the
MiG-21’sarereallycapable,alongsidetheTyphoon,
and learning from each other training ways it’s
good. Also learning intheair is reallygoodaswell.
We represent NATO’s point of view, NATO is
here, we are defendingNATO skies, weare here as
partners, but you canalso come toUKanddo just
that,
that’swhatairpolicingisabout:defending
everyoneairspace,andwe’redoingittogether.
The really important thing tome is when
I leavehere, inSeptember, Iwillhandthekeys
to the Canadians and it’s seamless
. I want to
achieve (actually we’ve already done it) a good
integration with Romanian Air Force.
We’re first here, but everytime I’m doing
something I ask myself “Will the Canadiens like
this?” Andyes, theywill. Iwant to turnaroundand
look atmy commanders inNATO, Royal Air Force,
myfriendsandcolleagues fromRomanianAirForce
and ask:
I know we did a good job, are you guys
happy? I justwant toseesmilesontheir faces. I feel
we’re getting there already.
Thank you verymuch for the insights!
Activity report:
According to NATO official website, www.
ac.nato.int, Typhoons launched once in
response to Russian air activity over the Black
Sea, and flewmore than 280 sorties to support
NATO trainingwith Romanian, Hungarian and
Bulgarian armed forces. Towards the end of
135 EAW’s tour of duty, eight of its personnel
were awarded the Romanian Air Force’s
highest peacetime honor for their work in the
country.
Wing Commander Andy Coe with Chief of the Romanian Air Force Staff,
General-lieutenant Laurian Anastasof, during the farewell meeting on august 22,
highlighting the acomplishment of the mission
Wing Commander Andrew Coe offered the general
a symbolic gift on behalf of his detachement.
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