Omega CAS Conference 2019

The seventeenth annual Omega Close Air Support (CAS) conference took place at the Hilton Hotel, Reading – west of London, UK – on 20th and 21st November 2019. MS&T’s Dim Jones went along to see and hear.

Incontinuance of the very successful arrangement established over the past coupleof years, this event was a joint venture between Omega Conferences and the UK’sJoint Air-Land Organisation (JALO), whose responsibility is oversight andpromotion of the UK’s Air-Land and Air-Maritime Integration (ALI and AMI)capability. The conference was ably and energetically chaired by thenewly-appointed Commander JALO, Colonel Chris Gent.

Theformat was the customary two-day agenda of presentations, with ampleopportunity for networking between delegates, and interaction withrepresentatives of the many companies who have an interest in CAS, several ofwhom were sponsors of the event. The venue and administrative arrangements weregood and, although it was ‘standing room only’ for the first session, moreseating was rapidly acquired. There were 150+ delegates, of whom a third werefrom outside the UK, representing 15 nations so it was impractical to learn ofthe background of all the participants.

Quality in Depth

Atfirst glance, the programme might have seemed, to those who had attendedprevious events, a bit ‘samey’ and, to a certain extent, that would have been afair observation. However, CAS is a fairly specialised business and, in orderto keep it relevant for the ALI/AMI practitioners – and in this “I” include theJoint Terminal Air Controllers (JTAC) and associated ‘boots on the ground’ (orin the air), their chains of command and control, and those who train them andprovide their equipment – there is only a finite breadth of subject matterwhich is relevant. In any event, this is such a close-knit fraternity that allthat is really required to generate healthy discussion is some vehicle by whichto bring them together. That said, this programme – and particularly thequality of the presenters – did far more than that.

Front Line Keynote

Thetone was set by the opening Keynote Speaker, Air Commodore Justin Reuter, veryrecently returned from Al Udeid, where, for the previous 12 months, he had beenthe commander of the UK’s Air Component, comprising 83 Expeditionary Air Group,whose area of operations embraced the entire Middle Eastern theatre, fromCyprus in the west to Afghanistan in the east. 83 EAG, coincidentally, wasformed in 1944, and played a pivotal role in post D-Day air operations,particularly in the Falaise pocket; equally coincidentally, its pilots flew theHawker Typhoon, whereas their 2019 counterparts were operating the EurofighterTyphoon FGR4.

AirCdre Reuter provided a fascinating insight into the challenges facingmulti-national operations in such a complex air and ground environment, such asprosecuting an effective air campaign while complying with coalition andnational Rules of Engagement, and ensuring an absolute minimum of collateraldamage. This was amply illustrated by events in Baghuz, the last pocket of ISILoccupation in the Euphrates Valley, where a UAV feed was able to detectchildren playing freely in the midst of active defensive firing positions. Noless complex was the politico-military situation where fragile alliances formedby common – but perhaps transitory – interests meant that your ally’s ally wasnot necessarily unequivocally your friend, leading to the dilemma of “how farcan I trust my ‘partner forces’?”

Onepoint of particular note was the first operational engagement of UK F-35Bs,thus laying to rest the argument that 5th-gen aircraft would neverbe employed in high-risk CAS operations. Not only were they committed to a potentiallyhostile air environment, where mid-air collision was not the least of thehazards, but their capability was illustrated by detection and passiveidentification of a hitherto unknown surface-to-air threat, which could thenhave been summarily engaged, had that been deemed appropriate.

Simulation Critical to Operations

Aglimpse of the other side of the coin was provided by the Keynote Speaker onthe second day, Air Commodore Mark Chappell, Commander of the UK Typhoon Force,who gave an overview of the capabilities of platform and weapons, and alsohighlighted some of the problem areas in operating single-seat aircraft in adata- and sensor-rich environment, including cockpit communications in amulti-agency setting. The live-synthetic training mix was a recurrent themethroughout the conference, and was brought into sharp focus by Air CdreChappell’s disclosure that the tempo of operations in the Syrian/Iraqi theatreresulted in many inexperienced pilots’ first employment of live weapons being onoperational sorties; realistic simulated mission rehearsal thus became ofcrucial importance.

Changing Roles?

Alarge proportion of the programme was devoted to updates on the various aspectsof JTAC training and organisation, from the host nation and internationalpartners, notably Estonia, which really does sit on the front line. There werealso progress and platform reports from two major and complementary UK RemotelyPiloted Air Systems (RPAS) – the Army’s Watchkeeper and Protector which willtake over the role of Reaper in the RAF; these were delivered by theWatchkeeper Force Commander and the Protector Programme Manager respectively. Inboth cases, the future capability far exceeds what is currently in service,although this enhancement may be more noticeable to those charged with theiroperation and employment than to the JTAC in the field.

Theconference was once again treated to an irreverent review, from JALO’s WingCommander Jason Wells, of the development of ALI since its inception in itscurrent form in the Western Desert in 1942 – and I regret to admit that myinitial qualification as a Forward Air Controller was a lot closer to that datethan this one! Notwithstanding advances in JTAC equipment, and lamentingdilatory progress in the effective employment of Digitally-Aided CAS (DACAS),Wg Cdr Wells judged overall advancement to be ‘limited’ as, indeed, he regardedthe future of CAS itself, in that the drive towards precision fires, both airand land, would eventually render the role obsolete, the main practitioners inthe future being SF. Furthermore, increased capability – such as F-35 versusTornado GR4 - would drive down aircraft numbers, while stealth would eliminatethe need for escort fighters and SEAD, and long-range strike aircraft such asB-2 the need for tankers. Jason’s final thought for the purists was ‘Incontested operations, the priority is to win the contest’.

Joining Customers and Suppliers

Giventhe close relationship between the user and the supplier of JTAC gear, due prominencewas given in the programme to representatives of industry, and there werepresentations from QuantaDyn, Safran Vectronix, Teleplan Globe, CollinsAerospace, and Close Air Solutions. They and other interested companies alsotook part in a small exhibition adjacent to the conference hall. Bothpresentations and exhibits generated much interest and discussion, a recurringtheme being some bemusement on the part of industry that they needed an eventsuch as this to find out from the users what they wanted, but also appreciationof the opportunity to do so.

Success

In sum, and notwithstanding the slightly scattergun nature of myreport, this was another successful event in this series, centred on a full,coherent and interesting programme, with plenty of opportunity for networkingand close-range equipment inspection. Omega CAS 2019 lived up to its generallyaccepted billing as the premier ALI/AMI event on this side of the Atlantic.