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Speaker 1: Now as I touched on a major defense training exercise

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Speaker 1: involving tiger attack helicopters. It is set to begin today

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Speaker 1: in the Adelaide River region. Now locals are being warned

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Speaker 1: to expect an increase in aircraft and vehicle movements and

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Speaker 1: noise over the next four days as part of exercise

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Speaker 1: Griffin Walk. Now joining me in the studio is Commanding

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Speaker 1: Officer of First Aviation Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Sherry. Good

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Speaker 1: morning to you.

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Speaker 2: Matt goodakatie. How are you?

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Speaker 1: Yeah? Really good? Lovely to have you on the show. Now,

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Speaker 1: First off, what does the First Aviation Regiment do?

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Speaker 2: So, the First Aviation Regiment is Army's only attack helicopter regiment,

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Speaker 2: and what we do is we provide reconnaissance, strike and

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Speaker 2: coordination effects for the Army and the rest of defense

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Speaker 2: as well.

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Speaker 1: Sounds like an important job, a very important job, and

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Speaker 1: no doubt a lot of that training is incredibly important.

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Speaker 1: Tell us a bit more about this exercise exercise and

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Speaker 1: what's involved.

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Speaker 2: Griffin Walk as an opportunity for us to train some

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Speaker 2: foundation skills nest through for our mission, specifically for Adelaide River.

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Speaker 2: If you think of our capability like a Formula One team.

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Speaker 2: We've got a pit crew the same as they do.

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Speaker 2: And our pit crew though, needs to set up our

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Speaker 2: mobile stations, our mobile pit stops anywhere we ask them to,

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Speaker 2: and so we're asking them to set that up at

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Speaker 2: Adelaide River Township this week where our aircraft can come

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Speaker 2: into and out of receive fuel, simulated ordinance, as well

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Speaker 2: as technical support from our maintainers there.

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Speaker 1: Have you had much discussion with the locals around there,

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Speaker 1: They'd be pretty like it'd be a lot happening for them,

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Speaker 1: wouldn't it. They'd be pretty excited, I'd imagine. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: So we've been down there a few times and speaking

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Speaker 2: with both the caretaker staff, the council, and definitely the

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Speaker 2: local pub there to let them know we'll be coming

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Speaker 2: through and they're really excited about having a resident there

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Speaker 2: this week.

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Speaker 1: So why is the training important and what skills are

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Speaker 1: going to be put to the teest?

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Speaker 2: So for the team that's going to be down there

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Speaker 2: at Adelaide River having the ability to go to a

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Speaker 2: new environment and site at that mobile service station, that

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Speaker 2: mobile pit lane, roll out the trucks with all the

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Speaker 2: fuel and the ordinance to be able to side an

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Speaker 2: appropriate place for a helicopter to land and take off

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Speaker 2: and continue to provide support when the aircraft land with

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Speaker 2: technical support.

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Speaker 1: So talk me through the aircraft that are used and

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Speaker 1: what it's like. I suppose being involved in a training

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Speaker 1: exercise like this.

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Speaker 2: I saw our aircraft as a Tiger reconnaissance helicopter. We've

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Speaker 2: been operating that for the last twenty years and here

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Speaker 2: in Darwin. It's an aircraft that has both weapons systems

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Speaker 2: and sensors and a large suite of communications which enable

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Speaker 2: us the network across the force. For this exercise, we'll

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Speaker 2: be running from Adelaide River to a few places around

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Speaker 2: the Northern Territory, but most likely around the Mount Bundy

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Speaker 2: training area. But giving us the oppertunity to exercise at

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Speaker 2: long range gives us the chance for that ground crew

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Speaker 2: to get some really great foundation training.

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Speaker 1: So how many aircraft and how many personnel are going

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Speaker 1: to be involved in total?

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Speaker 2: So we've got one hundred and ninety people in the

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Speaker 2: regiment in Darwin here and of those down at Adelaide

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Speaker 2: River you can expect to see around thirty personnel, some

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Speaker 2: increased vehicle traffic and up to four aircraft a day

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Speaker 2: arriving and departing multiple times into the showgrounds there at

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Speaker 2: Adelaide River, and.

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Speaker 1: So will the public be able to get a bit

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Speaker 1: closer but be up close and personal or not really.

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Speaker 2: So for everyone's safety, I'd ask everyone to just keep

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Speaker 2: some distance away from the aircraft as they take off

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Speaker 2: on land, but they're welcome to pull over on the

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Speaker 2: side of the road and obviously where it's safe to

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Speaker 2: do so and look out. But if for those that

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Speaker 2: want to get a bit more up close and personal,

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Speaker 2: the opportunity is there at the Robertson Barracks Open Day

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Speaker 2: in August, where people will be able to see the

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Speaker 2: aircraft flying as well as see the aircraft on the

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Speaker 2: ground and speak to the crew that make it work.

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Speaker 1: I mean, paint a bit of a picture for us.

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Speaker 1: I suppose for US civilians, you know, thinking about these

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Speaker 1: aircraft flying around at the Adelaide River area and then

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Speaker 1: thinking about, you know, the different military vehicles and that

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Speaker 1: kind of thing placed around the around that area, is

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Speaker 1: it going to be quite a site for locals?

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Speaker 2: Look, I would say locals will just notice a slight

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Speaker 2: increase in the amount of heavy vehicle traffic. There will

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Speaker 2: be some aircraft that fly low on arrival and departure.

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Speaker 2: But I would not expect a significant disruption to the

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Speaker 2: local lives there at Adelaide River.

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Speaker 1: What about when it comes to weapons carrying weapons and

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Speaker 1: are the aircraft going to be sort of loaded with

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Speaker 1: dummy ammunition?

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Speaker 2: That's right, So the aircraft are always fitted with our

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Speaker 2: weapon systems, but the crew on the ground there will

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Speaker 2: be loading inert that's dummy ammunition, and that's important for

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Speaker 2: their training. But there is absolutely no risk from an

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Speaker 2: ordinance perspective to the locals there at Adelaide River.

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Speaker 1: And just as he's involved in this exercise, have we

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Speaker 1: got any partner nations.

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Speaker 2: Just Australians this one. It's a great chance for us

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Speaker 2: to get out train our skills before we move on

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Speaker 2: to training with those multinational partners later in the year.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. How important is it for you guys to be

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Speaker 1: able to get to do exercises like this and you know,

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Speaker 1: to be out and about and testing your skills.

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Speaker 2: I guess well, Look, we've been residents here in Darwin

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Speaker 2: for the last thirty years and what I would say

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Speaker 2: about this is a wonderful place for us to train,

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Speaker 2: great expanse and really supportive community. So a chance for

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Speaker 2: us to really stretch our legs, which sometimes when we

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Speaker 2: operate in other places not so apparent, but really great

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Speaker 2: work from the Darwin community support us to do this.

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Speaker 1: Now, I know the First Aviation Regiment is in the

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Speaker 1: process of moving from Darwin to Townsville. Why is that happening?

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Speaker 2: That's right, so we have started our transition. We are

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Speaker 2: replacing our Tiger helicopter with a new helicopter, the Apache Guardian,

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Speaker 2: and in order to co locate that aircraft with our

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Speaker 2: CH forty seven Chinook helicopter in Townsville, we hope to

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Speaker 2: have the ability to generate, sustain, and deploy a more

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Speaker 2: resilient helicopter force with all being in the same location

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Speaker 2: in Townsville.

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Speaker 1: Well. Commanding Officer of First Aviation Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Sherry.

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Speaker 1: I really appreciate you joining us in the studio this morning.

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Speaker 1: Thank you so much for your time, and I'm sure

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Speaker 1: that people will be probably quite excited when they see

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Speaker 1: those choppers up in the up in the air around

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Speaker 1: the Adelaide River area.

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Speaker 2: Thanks very much, Katie, Thank you