PEOPLE living around Aberdeen will get the chance to see Royal Navy Hawk fast jets this month as they take part in a major NATO exercise.
The black jets are setting up home at Aberdeen International Airport for the large annual exercise which sees them pretending to be hostile aircraft or incoming missiles.
They will be mainly operating at sea as part of Exercise Joint Warrior, which is running throughout October and involves warships from several European countries including the Royal Navy’s new aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth.
The Hawks, their pilots and engineers, have travelled up from their base in Cornwall, Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose, where they typically fly on exercises out in the English Channel. In previous years, they have operated from the west coast from the west coast of Scotland for the annual exercise.
They are all from 736 Naval Air Squadron, the Royal Navy’s maritime aggressor force. These training aircraft are used to simulate an attack to test ships’ companies to respond, such as how they position their ships to protect the aircraft carrier or support ships and how and when to use their anti-air defences. The squadron also trains fighter controllers to manage the fast-moving battlespace in real-time to order intercepting fighters or take defensive action.
The move to Aberdeen follows a week operating from RAF Leeming in Yorkshire, where the Hawks flew in exercises over the North Sea.
Lieutenant Commander Jason Flintham, of 736 Naval Air Squadron, said: “This week has seen us take part in complicated training exercises involving both RAF Typhoons and the new generation of F35 jets operating from our aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, as part of the exercise GroupEx.
“Our role is to be the enemy – the bad guys if you like. It’s not easy, but we try to be as difficult as possible and push the abilities of our personnel to respond to a high-speed aerial threat.
“These large-scale exercises are key to the delivery of the UK’s carrier strike group, and 736 squadron is at the forefront of preparing our ships for future operations around the world.
“The next stage is for our Hawk to operate from Aberdeen International Airport. We will be flying inland at times in order to set up attack runs on the NATO ships and I’d like to thank people in the area for their understanding as we operate throughout the first half of October.”
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Roger Hunt, Aberdeen International Airport interim managing director, said: “We are delighted to be welcoming these Royal Navy jets to Aberdeen International Airport while they take part in this major exercise.”
