The late onset of this year's Northern Territory monsoon season hampered, but couldn't halt, a recent 1st Aviation Regiment activity around Darwin, training remote helicopter refuelling and re-arming.
Exercise Griffin Walk called for 162 Reconnaissance Squadron to operate its ARH Tigers around the township of Adelaide River, but widespread heavy rain necessitated a redeployment to the Kangaroo Flats Training Area.
Broken into two parts, the exercise comprised a week of battle prep and equipment checks, followed by another week practising forward arming and refuelling point (FARP) operations between Robertson Barracks and a helicopter landing pad in the NT bush.
Commanding Officer 1st Aviation Regiment Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Sherry said Griffin Walk provided an opportunity to train foundation skills in realistic conditions.
"As the name alludes, we go through a crawl, walk, run methodology for our training," Lieutenant Colonel Sherry said.
"It's a chance for battle preparation, to ensure our equipment and personnel are ready."
A forward assessment team (FAT) comprising aviation technicians from the Operational Support Squadron - Darwin was integrated into the exercise to support the Tigers and ground vehicles. A firefighting and crash response team from the 1st Combat Engineer Regiment and medics from 1st Health Battalion were also added.
"What our regiment needs to be able to do is project our effects over a long distance, which means our A1 echelon, our FARP and the integrated forward assessment team become very important," Lieutenant Colonel Sherry said.
"It's an opportunity to go out and establish the FARP in a new location, a place they're not familiar with, exercising the very basics, from site selection through to site preparation, execution and redeployment."
'As the name alludes, we go through a crawl, walk, run methodology for our training.'
All refuelling, ammunition, ordnance, security and maintenance serials were scrutinised by seasoned aviation ground crew who generated simulated technical faults and other authentic problems to test the FARP operators.
FARP Commander Captain David Boffa said it was about gaining the necessary skills and experience to "get the aircraft back in the fight sooner".
"Rather than everything [fuel, ammunition, aircraft maintainers] being in a fixed position like a FOB (forward operating base), it's now in the field presenting a smaller target and complicating things for the enemy," Captain Boffa said.
"FARPs sustain combat operations moving to different locations, and our operators can fix minor issues with the aircraft.
"The forward assessment team adds diagnostics and guidance regarding aircraft initial faults and battle damage.
"They can troubleshoot problems with the aircraft or make an assessment about whether it can still fly or has bigger problems that require calling in the downed aircraft recovery team."
