It's an airfield structure that you would expect to see at almost any active runway in Australia, the air traffic control tower can usually be spotted silhouetted against the sky well above its surroundings.
At a contingency air base like RAAF Base Curtin however, there is no tower. To conduct complex air operations, No. 44 Wing sends one of their state-of-the-art Deployable Defence Air Traffic Management and Control systems to the centre of the airbase.
Consisting of a Transportable Air Operations Tower, Approach cell, communications links and support equipment, the system is capable of deploying over large distances to project air power from remote bases and austere airfields.
Squadron Leader Vanessa Stothart is the Air Traffic Control Detachment Commander at RAAF Base Curtin said that this year No. 44 Wing assigned both an approach and tower service bringing the Curtin's air traffic control capability closer to what would be provided at an established airfield.
"The equipment for Exercise Talisman Sabre 2023 has included a new approach service, the Deployable Defence Air Traffic Management and Control System, which arrived as part of the first convoy to reach Curtin," Squadron Leader Stothart said.
"This system enables us to provide coverage out to around 100 nautical miles from the airfield, which means we have greater situational awareness of the air space surrounding Curtin."
The opportunity for No. 44 Wing to deploy this level of capability into a remote environment like RAAF Base Curtin provides important, real time experience for both controllers and technicians.
"It's important that our controllers and technicians have the opportunity to exercise this process to ensure that we know our timelines to become operationally ready in a location and start providing air traffic control capability," Squadron Leader Stothart said.
"The team have benefited from the environment and practices here at RAAF Base Curtin which can be different from the way we operate from our home base locations."
With equipment that can be set up and packed down within 72 hours, 44 Wing's Deployable Air Traffic Control Flight will continue to be central to the projection of air power from Australia's remote northern bases.
