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Text: |
Chakrit Samithinan |
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Pictures: |
Chakrit Samithinan & Saichol Krai-amat) |
The Air Tactical Operations Competition of the Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) in 2023 (called 2024 edition) took place as usual at the Chandy bombing range in Chaibadan, Lopburi Province on 30 November 2023. This event is not open to the public but Air Force personnel and representatives of the press were again invited. As is by now customary, some local school classes had also been invited to witness the event.
The event took place under the watchful eyes of the new Commander of the RTAF, Air Chief Marshal Panpakdee Pattanakul who was elected new Air Force Chief only three months earlier. He arrived in a Sikorsky S-92 accompanied by another S-92 and a UH-60 Blackhawk together with the current Minister of Defence, Sutin Klungsang. The Commander and the Minister took their time visiting the invited school children before proceeding to the viewing platform on top of the hill. There seemed to be no fixed time table and nobody knew when the competition would begin, not even the pilots who were already in the air and waiting to perform. In previous years, the exercise began at 10 am but this year, 11 am passed without any action. At 11.15, the Commander finally declared the competition open and the proceedings took their course. All photographers readied their cameras for the first item in the program and lamented the fact that the sun was once again directly opposite the field of photography.
The program followed the events of the past almost to the point but at least two new aircraft types made their debut this year. Firstly, the newly acquired T-6TH Texan and secondly the D-42 look-alike Dominator drone, and last but not least the Thakli-based T-50Th made a welcome return to the competition.
(Picture courtesy Sakpinit Promthep,)
(Picture courtesy Sakpinit Promthep,)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Saichol Krai-amat)
(Picture courtesy Sakpinit Promthep,)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Sakpinit Promthep)
(Picture courtesy Saichol Krai-amat)
(Picture courtesy Sakpinit Promthep)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
One F-16B from Wing 103 Korat opened the competition with a hill-hugging and very low opening pass dispensing smoke and flares after pulling up into the sky. This was followed by a low and fast fly-by of two F-16A from Wing 403 in Takli very close to the hill where the Commander and the Minister of Defense and other high-ranking officers were observing the proceedings. Then, it was time for a novelty in the program when 4 T-6TH Texans made a fly-bye in a 4-ship formation. Another first was the presentation of a D-42 Diamond aircraft together with its look-alike pilotless Dominator drone which was developed from the Da-42. Two JAS-39 Gripen and two F-5TH Super Tigris then engaged themselves in some mild combat simulation. Now it was time for what most people were keenly awaiting, i.e. the dropping and firing of live weapons. Two F-16 from Wing 403 in Takli dropped GBU-12 laser-guided bombs with the help of a sniper pod. Next came two F-16 from Wing 103 in Korat which dropped two MK82/AC 500 lbs bombs with great precision on to the target. More F-16 action was imminent when two F-16 from Wing 403 in Takli repeated the bombing action by the previous jets and pounded the target with MK82/AC bombs. Making their appearance after an absence from last year’s competition were four T-50TH from Takli equally dropping two MK82/AC bombs each in the designated target area. This was followed by more T-50 action when two of the jets from Takli strafed the ground targets in an impressive manner. Now was the time for the Alpha Jets to make their appearance. Two of them fired 12 rockets each of the 2.75” Hydra 700 type with CCT/JACT guidance.
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Sakpinit Promthep)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Saichol Krai-amat)
(Picture courtesy Saichol Krai-amat)
(Picture courtesy Saichol Krai-amat)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
Dornier Alpha Jet (Picture courtesy Saichol Krai-amat)
Dornier Alpha Jet (Picture courtesy Saichol Krai-amat)
The direct sunlight made it really difficult to photograph the rockets as they left the aircraft. This concluded the live firing section of the competition and the pace became somewhat slower when a single C-130H Hercules made a cargo drop which however looked out of the ordinary and the cargo seemed to have separated from the pallet and made its way to earth in a somewhat unorthodox manner. Following the Hercules aircraft was as usual the Basler BT-67 with the red water drop which did not disappoint. Now, the pace became even slower when one Eurocopter EC-725 set down a team of soldiers who discharged material for the build-up of a field hospital while one Bell 412 from the Medical Emergency Response Team was flying cover for the stationary EC-725. After accepting the now dismantled field hospital, the EC-725 took off and dispensed flares while the Bell 412 with machine gun at the ready followed the EC-725.
This concluded the slow-paced portion of the program and what was left were the customary departure fly-byes. Four T-50TH made the beginning followed by the four Alpha Jets which in turn were followed by the earlier seen two JAS-39 Gripen and the two F-5TH Super Tigris. This opened the way for the always spectacular final fly-by with the nine F-16 aircrafts which participated in the competition.
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Sakpinit Promthep)
(Picture courtesy Sakpinit Promthep)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Sakpinit Promthep)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Sakpinit Promthep)
(Picture courtesy Sakpinit Promthep)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Sakpinit Promthep)
While the fly-byes were taking place, the Minister of Defense elected to give a press conference to the assembled Thai media representatives which halted the flying activities and took quite some time to finish. The circling two F-16 which were supposed to do a surprise low-level attack from behind the hill as conclusion of the exercise were asked to wait and wait until the second F-16 did not have a sufficient fuel reserve and made its way back to Korat air base. This left only one F-16 to circle and wait and finally, he received the go-ahead to do his low and fast departure fly-bye with smoke and flares.
In conclusion, this year’s timetable of the event seemed to be quite different from previous years as the planned time slots were not entirely followed which meant that the aircrafts waiting to perform had to orbit longer than usual before getting clearance to make their appearance. The visit by the Minister of Defense may have been one of the reasons for this and the event concluded just a few minutes before 12 noon.
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Sakpinit Promthep)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Saichol Krai-amat)
(Picture courtesy Saichol Krai-amat)
The author wishes to thank the very helpful and nice people of the Air Force’s Public Relations Department for having provided a comfortable transfer for the press representatives to and from the Chandy range in Chaibadan and an excellent lunch at the range before departure to the Don Muang Airbase in Bangkok.
