1
00:00:00,560 --> 00:00:02,360
Speaker 1: If you want to know what's happening on the local

2
00:00:02,360 --> 00:00:05,520
Speaker 1: political landscape, Katie Wolf has it covered on three sixty.

3
00:00:05,960 --> 00:00:08,960
Speaker 1: Every one is listening Mixed one oh four point nine.

4
00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:11,760
Speaker 2: We have had such a busy morning finding out about

5
00:00:11,760 --> 00:00:14,400
Speaker 2: what's going on around the top end. And joining me

6
00:00:14,600 --> 00:00:17,079
Speaker 2: in the studio right now is the commanding officer of

7
00:00:17,120 --> 00:00:22,840
Speaker 2: THEBAF base here in Darwin, Wing Commander Andrew andros Anthony.

8
00:00:22,960 --> 00:00:23,760
Speaker 2: Good morning to.

9
00:00:23,800 --> 00:00:24,639
Speaker 1: You morning, Katie.

10
00:00:24,680 --> 00:00:27,320
Speaker 2: How are you very well now? Mate? We're just talking

11
00:00:27,360 --> 00:00:30,479
Speaker 2: in the break and you guys are gearing up for

12
00:00:30,560 --> 00:00:33,120
Speaker 2: an exercise that begins on Monday, does.

13
00:00:33,040 --> 00:00:34,440
Speaker 1: Nash, Yeah, that's correct, Katie.

14
00:00:34,520 --> 00:00:37,800
Speaker 3: So the jets arrived earlier this week, but they're basically

15
00:00:37,880 --> 00:00:40,879
Speaker 3: they've come in there preparing and flying starts on Monday.

16
00:00:41,200 --> 00:00:43,720
Speaker 3: The fast Jets will be operating from Raft based Darwin

17
00:00:43,880 --> 00:00:47,199
Speaker 3: and it's it's a great opportunity for the North to

18
00:00:47,760 --> 00:00:50,800
Speaker 3: get to have some fast jets operating again after the

19
00:00:50,920 --> 00:00:52,800
Speaker 3: break that we had in twenty twenty.

20
00:00:52,960 --> 00:00:54,880
Speaker 2: How many are we talking, it's a bit.

21
00:00:54,760 --> 00:00:57,160
Speaker 1: About twenty five aircraft on Raft based Darwin.

22
00:00:57,200 --> 00:00:59,840
Speaker 3: There are some more aircraft participating from Raft based Tindall,

23
00:00:59,880 --> 00:01:01,040
Speaker 3: the Catherine as well.

24
00:01:00,880 --> 00:01:02,880
Speaker 2: Okay, So is it just out like it's just the

25
00:01:02,920 --> 00:01:05,800
Speaker 2: forces or it's just the crews that are based here

26
00:01:05,880 --> 00:01:07,840
Speaker 2: in the Northern Territory. Do we have anyone coming from

27
00:01:07,880 --> 00:01:09,720
Speaker 2: anywhere else at this for this one?

28
00:01:09,800 --> 00:01:13,880
Speaker 3: Yeah, we've actually got our squadrons from Williamtown near Newcastle. Yeah,

29
00:01:13,920 --> 00:01:17,080
Speaker 3: also Ambly near Brisbane, and I think we've got some

30
00:01:17,080 --> 00:01:19,680
Speaker 3: SEE one thirties that are participating from Raft Base Richmond

31
00:01:19,720 --> 00:01:23,440
Speaker 3: near Sydney, so another collection. It really is the first

32
00:01:23,440 --> 00:01:25,839
Speaker 3: time that we've had all of these different platforms working

33
00:01:25,880 --> 00:01:27,039
Speaker 3: together on the one activity.

34
00:01:27,200 --> 00:01:31,119
Speaker 2: And so around twenty five aircraft. Is there more than

35
00:01:31,120 --> 00:01:33,560
Speaker 2: that are going to arrive as well? Or is it

36
00:01:33,600 --> 00:01:35,760
Speaker 2: what's it like? What are we talking total in terms

37
00:01:35,800 --> 00:01:37,360
Speaker 2: of what we're going to see in the sky.

38
00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:40,240
Speaker 3: Certainly so there's about forty aircraft in total, but we

39
00:01:40,280 --> 00:01:42,520
Speaker 3: won't see them all because they'll be joining each other

40
00:01:42,560 --> 00:01:45,279
Speaker 3: in the space south in the training area. About twenty

41
00:01:45,280 --> 00:01:47,080
Speaker 3: five is what we expect to see on the base.

42
00:01:47,360 --> 00:01:49,120
Speaker 3: Of course, the exercise isn't the only thing that we've

43
00:01:49,120 --> 00:01:50,600
Speaker 3: got going on at the moment. We've still got the

44
00:01:50,600 --> 00:01:54,440
Speaker 3: repatriation flights coming through. We're still supporting other aircraft movements

45
00:01:54,480 --> 00:01:56,800
Speaker 3: from the base, the activities that we're always supporting.

46
00:01:56,880 --> 00:01:58,800
Speaker 2: Yeah, right, does that make it like, does that make

47
00:01:58,840 --> 00:01:59,840
Speaker 2: it a difficult juggle?

48
00:02:00,680 --> 00:02:03,320
Speaker 3: It's challenging, but that's their good problems to have is

49
00:02:03,920 --> 00:02:07,160
Speaker 3: being busy and supporting the Australian government, Australian communities.

50
00:02:07,200 --> 00:02:09,320
Speaker 1: What we do. We really appreciate the support we get

51
00:02:09,320 --> 00:02:09,760
Speaker 1: from the MT.

52
00:02:10,120 --> 00:02:12,760
Speaker 2: Yeah. Look, how many personnel then are going to be

53
00:02:12,800 --> 00:02:14,000
Speaker 2: involved in the exercise.

54
00:02:14,160 --> 00:02:16,680
Speaker 3: We've got only five hundred personnel that have come onto

55
00:02:16,760 --> 00:02:19,720
Speaker 3: Raft Base Darwin with all the visiting squadrons to help

56
00:02:19,760 --> 00:02:22,360
Speaker 3: support this exercise. In addition to the personnel that we

57
00:02:22,400 --> 00:02:25,720
Speaker 3: have here both our regular about five hundred regular personnel

58
00:02:26,040 --> 00:02:27,840
Speaker 3: and the Marines who are here now there's about five

59
00:02:27,919 --> 00:02:30,000
Speaker 3: hundred of them with their Air Combat Element and that's

60
00:02:30,040 --> 00:02:30,840
Speaker 3: just on the Raft Base.

61
00:02:30,960 --> 00:02:33,959
Speaker 1: Of course, there's more Marines on other defense establishments in

62
00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:34,639
Speaker 1: the area as well.

63
00:02:34,680 --> 00:02:37,080
Speaker 2: Now, Andrew, I know that one of the biggest questions

64
00:02:37,080 --> 00:02:39,440
Speaker 2: people are going to be asking as they're listening right

65
00:02:39,480 --> 00:02:43,040
Speaker 2: now is what kind of aircraft are they going to see?

66
00:02:43,480 --> 00:02:46,119
Speaker 3: It really is a great opportunity to see a good

67
00:02:46,160 --> 00:02:48,280
Speaker 3: mix this time around. So we've got the F thirty

68
00:02:48,360 --> 00:02:52,080
Speaker 3: five Joint strike fighter. Its first deployment within Australia, so

69
00:02:52,240 --> 00:02:53,840
Speaker 3: a big moment for the air Force.

70
00:02:54,440 --> 00:02:56,400
Speaker 2: What does it look like like? Are we going to

71
00:02:56,440 --> 00:02:58,680
Speaker 2: be able to tell if we're actually seeing us?

72
00:02:58,680 --> 00:03:01,440
Speaker 3: She'll notice that it is pretty it's the stealthiest fighter

73
00:03:01,480 --> 00:03:04,840
Speaker 3: we've had. It's really slick and slim line, so it

74
00:03:04,880 --> 00:03:08,440
Speaker 3: will stand out. We also have our familiar hornets, the

75
00:03:08,480 --> 00:03:10,920
Speaker 3: super hornets, a little different to the classics that you

76
00:03:10,960 --> 00:03:13,839
Speaker 3: see in Tindle, but generally the same shape. We've got

77
00:03:13,840 --> 00:03:16,840
Speaker 3: the wedge tail the E seven A. It's a airborne

78
00:03:16,880 --> 00:03:19,120
Speaker 3: early warning and control aircraft. It's like it's got a

79
00:03:19,120 --> 00:03:21,160
Speaker 3: big surfboard on the top there, which is its radar.

80
00:03:21,440 --> 00:03:25,000
Speaker 3: He's participating. We've got a tanker aircraft, a KC thirty

81
00:03:25,040 --> 00:03:25,680
Speaker 3: which looks like.

82
00:03:25,680 --> 00:03:26,679
Speaker 1: A really big airliner.

83
00:03:26,800 --> 00:03:31,519
Speaker 3: Yeah, playing as well, and some some one thirty hercules participating.

84
00:03:31,600 --> 00:03:33,679
Speaker 3: So there's a whole stretch of aircraft. For those that

85
00:03:33,880 --> 00:03:36,320
Speaker 3: like looking at aircraft, those aviation buffs, they're going to

86
00:03:36,360 --> 00:03:36,600
Speaker 3: love it.

87
00:03:36,640 --> 00:03:38,640
Speaker 2: Well, that's the thing, and there's actually so many of

88
00:03:38,640 --> 00:03:40,560
Speaker 2: them in the community. I've got friends that you know,

89
00:03:40,600 --> 00:03:43,240
Speaker 2: I didn't even realize for aviation buffs, and then they

90
00:03:43,240 --> 00:03:44,800
Speaker 2: go to me, oh, ye have I'm parked near the

91
00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:48,040
Speaker 2: runway at different times, you know, just to see certain

92
00:03:48,080 --> 00:03:50,680
Speaker 2: planes arriving. So then when something like this is going on,

93
00:03:51,080 --> 00:03:52,600
Speaker 2: everybody's keeping an eye in the sky.

94
00:03:53,240 --> 00:03:55,360
Speaker 1: Yeah, so it is going to be exciting. Makatie.

95
00:03:55,400 --> 00:03:57,880
Speaker 3: Of course, we make a lot of noise, and that's

96
00:03:57,920 --> 00:04:00,520
Speaker 3: one of the downsides of having the fighters here. We're

97
00:04:00,520 --> 00:04:02,640
Speaker 3: doing everything we can, and we really do appreciate the

98
00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:05,119
Speaker 3: support we get from the community up here. There will

99
00:04:05,120 --> 00:04:07,520
Speaker 3: be some night flying with this exercise, but what we'll

100
00:04:07,560 --> 00:04:09,560
Speaker 3: do throughout the evening is when we bring those aircraft

101
00:04:09,640 --> 00:04:11,280
Speaker 3: back in, we'll try to get them to come in

102
00:04:11,400 --> 00:04:13,680
Speaker 3: a straight, straight and approach. They'll come in on lower

103
00:04:13,720 --> 00:04:16,160
Speaker 3: throttle settings to reduce the noise around so that we're

104
00:04:16,160 --> 00:04:18,080
Speaker 3: not disturbing the community as much as we can.

105
00:04:18,200 --> 00:04:20,159
Speaker 2: Okay, so doing all that you can really to try

106
00:04:20,160 --> 00:04:22,640
Speaker 2: and minimize that noise as much as possible.

107
00:04:22,279 --> 00:04:23,000
Speaker 1: One hundred percent.

108
00:04:23,120 --> 00:04:24,919
Speaker 2: Yeah, but I guess we also need to sort of

109
00:04:24,960 --> 00:04:27,719
Speaker 2: remind ourselves that we live in a defense town. You know,

110
00:04:27,800 --> 00:04:30,800
Speaker 2: we do live somewhere where these types of exercises are

111
00:04:30,880 --> 00:04:33,080
Speaker 2: going to happen, and it's actually you know, it is

112
00:04:33,120 --> 00:04:34,680
Speaker 2: a good thing as well. It's a good thing for

113
00:04:34,720 --> 00:04:37,799
Speaker 2: the community in terms of the economy too. You're talking

114
00:04:37,800 --> 00:04:41,960
Speaker 2: about personnel arriving here from other locations around around Australia.

115
00:04:42,360 --> 00:04:44,719
Speaker 2: It is hopefully a good thing for us in terms

116
00:04:44,760 --> 00:04:46,320
Speaker 2: of you know, getting things moving.

117
00:04:46,600 --> 00:04:48,400
Speaker 3: Ketty, that's right, and I can tell you that those

118
00:04:48,440 --> 00:04:51,240
Speaker 3: personnel that are here from down south, they're absolutely loving it.

119
00:04:51,320 --> 00:04:53,280
Speaker 3: They're a little jealous, I think of us that get

120
00:04:53,320 --> 00:04:54,560
Speaker 3: to stay up here more permanently.

121
00:04:54,760 --> 00:04:57,600
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's good weather, great weather. Haven't we turned

122
00:04:57,600 --> 00:04:59,479
Speaker 2: it on for everybody arriving for Monday?

123
00:05:00,120 --> 00:05:02,800
Speaker 3: Certainly have and of course some big events happening around

124
00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:05,080
Speaker 3: town as well. So great time to be up in

125
00:05:05,120 --> 00:05:05,480
Speaker 3: the north.

126
00:05:05,560 --> 00:05:08,960
Speaker 2: Yeah, it really is. Well, so from Monday we can

127
00:05:09,040 --> 00:05:12,479
Speaker 2: expect a bit more action in our skies. And how

128
00:05:12,480 --> 00:05:13,640
Speaker 2: long is it running for again?

129
00:05:14,080 --> 00:05:16,599
Speaker 3: So from Monday we'll see the flying ops starts. The

130
00:05:16,720 --> 00:05:19,279
Speaker 3: jets will continue flying into the fourth of June, and

131
00:05:19,320 --> 00:05:22,240
Speaker 3: then we'll start seeing some of the thirty other aircraft

132
00:05:22,279 --> 00:05:24,320
Speaker 3: operating right out to the fifteenth June.

133
00:05:24,680 --> 00:05:27,279
Speaker 2: Andrew, just lastly, I mean, how important is it really

134
00:05:28,040 --> 00:05:31,120
Speaker 2: for our forces to be able to actually be involved

135
00:05:31,120 --> 00:05:32,560
Speaker 2: in exercises like this?

136
00:05:32,640 --> 00:05:34,640
Speaker 1: One extremely important Katie.

137
00:05:34,720 --> 00:05:37,840
Speaker 3: So what this gives us as an opportunity to exercise,

138
00:05:37,920 --> 00:05:44,280
Speaker 3: together with multiple platforms, work out how we produce that

139
00:05:44,320 --> 00:05:47,880
Speaker 3: capability that we need to to defend Australia and the community.

140
00:05:48,040 --> 00:05:51,920
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, Commanding Officer of THEAAF base here in Darwin

141
00:05:51,960 --> 00:05:55,440
Speaker 2: Wing Commander Andrew andros Anthony. Lovely to catch up with

142
00:05:55,480 --> 00:05:55,800
Speaker 2: you mate.

143
00:05:55,839 --> 00:05:57,680
Speaker 1: Thanks for your time, Thanks Katie, always a pleasure