The Joint Forward Air Controller Training and Standards Unit (JFACTSU)Some sources list it as the Joint Forward Air Control Training and ''Standardisation'' Unit. is a training unit located at

RAF Leeming Royal Air Force Leeming or RAF Leeming is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located near Leeming, North Yorkshire, England. It was opened in 1940 and was jointly used by the RAF and the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). Between 1950 and 1991, it ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The unit teaches students from across all three services of the United Kingdom's Armed Forces (and international allies) about

Forward Air Control Forward air control is the provision of guidance to close air support (CAS) aircraft intended to ensure that their attack hits the intended target and does not injure friendly troops. This task is carried out by a forward air controller (FAC). ...

(FAC) including laser designation of targets. Forward Air Controllers working from a forward position on the ground or in the air, direct the action of combat aircraft engaged in close air support of land forces.

History

During the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, troops on the ground would use flares, ground markers and flags to guide pilots in on targets. The difficulties in actual communication between the air and the ground meant that real time information was lost. By the time of the Africa Campaign in 1941, man portable radios were available for troops on the ground to brief aircrew. This lead in turn to the establishment of Forward Air Support Links (FASL) (or Rover Parties) which involved soldiers and Airmen of

RAF Desert Air Force The Desert Air Force (DAF), also known chronologically as Air Headquarters Western Desert, Air Headquarters Libya, the Western Desert Air Force, and the First Tactical Air Force (1TAF), was an Allies of World War II, Allied tactical air forc ...

. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the lessons learned were taken forward into the Air Land Integration policy of the School of Land-Air Warfare (SLAW) which taught formal FAC training at

RAF Old Sarum Old Sarum Airfield is a grass strip airfield north-north-east of Salisbury, Wiltshire, England. The adjacent areas are a mix of vacant land, residential and industrial sites. Residential areas are to the south and east, occupying the old air ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

. When flying ceased at RAF Old Sarum, the FAC training moved on as part of the Joint Warfare Establishment firstly to

RAF Chivenor Royal Air Force Chivenor or RAF Chivenor was a Royal Air Force station located on the northern shore of the River Taw estuary, on the north coast of Devon, England. The nearest towns are Barnstaple and Braunton. Originally a civil airfield opene ...

then to

RAF Brawdy RAF Brawdy is a former Royal Air Force satellite station located east of St Davids, Pembrokeshire and south west of Fishguard, Pembrokeshire, Wales. It was operational between 1944 and 1992 being used by both the Royal Air Force and the Royal N ...

. When RAF Brawdy was decommissioned as an RAF base and handed over to the army, JFACTSU moved to

RAF Finningley Royal Air Force Finningley or RAF Finningley was a Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force station at Finningley, in the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The station straddled the historic county boundaries of both ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham. In N ...

. Finningley then closed just two years later and in 1995, JFACTSU moved to its present location at RAF Leeming in North Yorkshire. British Forward Air Controllers have been deployed into many conflicts and operations such as Korea, Malaya, Suez, Indonesia, Aden, Oman, Falklands,

Operation Granby Operation Granby, commonly abbreviated Op Granby, was the code name given to the British military operations during the 1991 Gulf War. 53,462 members of the British Armed Forces were deployed during the conflict. The total cost of operations wa ...

, Operation Agricola,

Operation Telic Operation Telic (Op TELIC) was the codename under which all of the United Kingdom's military operations in Iraq were conducted between the start of the invasion of Iraq on 19 March 2003 and the withdrawal of the last remaining British forces on ...

and

Operation Herrick Operation Herrick was the codename under which all British operations in the War in Afghanistan were conducted from 2002 to the end of combat operations in 2014. It consisted of the British contribution to the NATO-led International Security Assis ...

Training

JFACTSU have two

Hawk Hawks are bird of prey, birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. They are widely distributed and are found on all continents except Antarctica. * The subfamily Accipitrinae includes goshawks, sparrowhawks, sharp-shinned hawks and others. Th ...

aircraft and two pilots on their staff who are overseen in flying matters by 100 Squadron at the adjacent hangar on RAF Leeming in North Yorkshire. Students on the course are taught how to request, plan, brief and execute close air support operations and subject to medical status, students are also able to fly back seat in one of the Hawk aircraft to experience first hand what the pilot will be seeing and hearing. The four to eight week course (depending on the specialization and security restrictions) culminates in a training exercise held at

RAF Spadeadam RAF Spadeadam (pronounced "Spade Adam") is a Royal Air Force station in Cumbria, England, close to the border with Northumberland. It is the home of the 9,000 acre (36 km2) Electronic Warfare Tactics Range, making it the largest (by area) R ...

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumb ...

where the students call in mock attacks from the 100 Sqn Hawks. Training can also be delivered via a state of the art iCASS (Immersive Close Air Support Simulator) that was purchased for JFACTSU in 2014. Forward Air Controller Training can also be conducted at Pembrey Sands Range in Pembrokeshire, South Wales. This range is open to all UK and NATO allied forces. It is noted as being a centre for FAC training and has in the past trained students from Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Malaysia, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Slovak Republic, Sweden, The Netherlands and the United States. Many of these were trained as NATO allies and some (Czech republic, Hungary and Poland) were trained before they became

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

partners and allies.

Prince Harry Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, (Henry Charles Albert David; born 15 September 1984) is a member of the British royal family. He is the younger son of Charles III and his first wife Diana, Princess of Wales. He is fifth in the line of succ ...

is among the British graduates of training courses conducted by the JFACTSU. After training, RAF personnel (mostly from the RAF Regiment) operate from a central pool at RAF Honington in Suffolk.

Aircraft

Since its inception, JFACTSU have utilized only two types of airframe; Hawker Hunters of 229 Operational Conversion Unit (OCU) at Chivenor and Brawdy and BAe Hawks from 100 Squadron at Finningley and Leeming.

Notes

References

Sources

*{{cite magazine, last=Quinn, first=Stu, title=Forward Air Control...with the RAF Regiment, journal=The Royal Air Force Official Annual Review 2013, date=2012, publisher=Key Publishing (UK MoD), location=Lincolnshire, issn=1758-9681 Education in North Yorkshire Hambleton District Joint military units and formations of the United Kingdom Military history of North Yorkshire Organisations based in North Yorkshire