The Royal Canadian Air Force’s long range patrol fleet demonstrated to its NATO allies it is at the top of its game at the most recent iteration of Exercise Dynamic Manta in Sicily.
Seventy personnel and two aircraft deployed to the NATO Forward Operating Base at Stormo 37 Trapani from the end of February to the beginning of March for the annual anti-submarine warfare (ASW) exercise. They participated with maritime patrol aircraft, maritime helicopters, surface ships and submarines from nine NATO nations, training interoperability with NATO partners in a complex maritime environment. The Canadian detachment consisted of members from 404 (Long Range Patrol and Training) Squadron, 405 (Long Range Patrol) Squadron, 407 (Long Range Patrol) Squadron, 415 (Long Range Patrol Force Development) Squadron, Long Range Patrol Standardized and Evaluation Team and 14 Operations Support Squadron, integrating the entire long range patrol fleet into a single operational entity.
The detachment flew 10 missions, contributing 60 flight hours to the exercise, and flew against Greek, Italian, Turkish and American submarines across the spectrum of ASW operations, from simple tracking of a transiting submarine to air-submarine cooperation to protecting a high value unit from multiple opposing submarines.
The detachment performed at its peak, with NATO Maritime Command commenting the Canadian crews had the most consistent tracking and the most accurate and aggressive attacks against the opposing submarines. One Greek submariner even commented his new nightmare is “going against Canadian aircraft, as we stand no chance of winning against them.”
On the maintenance side, RCAF technicians excelled at keeping the two recently upgraded Block IV aircraft serviceable. Maintainers from three separate squadrons were able to integrate into a single unit and provided a 100 per cent serviceability rate, resulting in no mission cancellations due to aircraft issues.
Exercise Dynamic Manta is an annual NATO exercise conducted in Sicily, with the objective of refining inter-operability ASW scenarios between surface vessels, maritime patrol aircraft and submarines from participant nations. NATO Maritime Command takes steps such as this operation to improve the alliance’s maritime situational awareness and competency. Other Canadian participants included HMCS Fredericton and its onboard CH148 Cyclone, callsign Phoenix
