Casa crews in training

Casa crews in training

By NEVILLE TOGAREWA

THE pilot officers and crew of the Casa aircraft operated by the Air Transport Wing (ATW) of the PNG Defence Force and a platoon of infantry troops are gaining valuable experience from an important 10-nation military exercise now underway in the French territory of New Caledonia.
Exercise Croix du Sud 2012 – French for Exercise Southern Cross - is a biennial multi-national exercise hosted by the French Armed Forces of New Caledonia (FANC).
This is the only exercise where the PNGDF Air Element or ATW actively participates.
The PNGDF sent its Casa and an infantry platoon in 2008 for the first time, but missed out in 2010 due to logistical issues.
This year, the ATW is fully supporting the trip from K400, 000 allocated to it for training purposes under the National Government’s 2012 recurrent budget. The scenario for the 2012 exercise is Humanitarian Disaster Relief after a tsunami has struck the north eastern coast of New Caledonia and multi-national help is requested to bring in urgent relief aid to the stricken island population.
The aim of the exercise is to test or check the different doctrines of the Armed Forces of each of the participating nations and their interoperability.
This year is the first time a total of 10 nations are taking part.
They are Great Britain with a platoon of Ghurka soldiers based in Brunei; Australia with a company and navy ship Tobruk; New Zealand with a platoon and Iroquois helicopters; USA with a platoon of US Marines; Canada with a platoon; Japan with two observers; Tonga with a platoon and patrol boat; Vanuatu with a platoon; PNG with a CASA and a platoon; and the host nation France.
A seven-day Force Integration Training was conducted from October 12-18 and a live field exercise took place on Friday.
The first insertion of French paratroopers by air-drops into the area of operation was done on Saturday, in preparation for an amphibious assault yesterday (Sunday) morning. This was followed by insertion of land troops by two French Casa aircraft and the PNG Casa all day Sunday.
The area of operation is 45 minutes from the capital Noumea to the north of the island. NGOs are also involved, especially the Red Cross and Caritas.
Real life-support assistance was given to the local Kanak community when water-treatment plants were flown in and installed by the troops. PNG played an important part by dropping supplies from the Casa.
The PNG contingent is led by Lt Col Ron Hosea, pilots Lt Col Chester Berobero, Major Eddie Miro and Lt Darius Kaule; loadmasters Sgt Russell Markus, Sgt Timi Kopagl and Cpl Toiye Mange; despatchers Sgt Yanng Samson and Sgt Bruce Subul; and engineers Chief Warrant Officer Titus Yagur, Warrant Officer Vaina Asi, Sgt John Kumbu and Cpl Rawali Kapi.
The team departed from Port Moresby on Sunday October 14 and will return on October 27. They stopped over in Honiara, Solomon Islands, to pick up fuel before proceeding to Noumea, the capital of New Caledonia.
They were farewelled at the ATW by the commanding officers of Goldie River Training Depot, Basilisk Naval Base and ATW.
“The exercise is giving all of us – ATW pilot officers and men, and our infantry soldiers - invaluable skills, knowledge and experience,” Casa pilot Major Eddie Miro who is also ATW Operations Officer, told the Post-Courier from Noumea over the weekend.
“The valuable experience that we gain should be utilised by the National Disaster and Emergency Services of PNG during any future disasters that hit the country, like the last Cyclone Guba that we had experienced,” he said.
Maj Miro said while the two-week exercise is tough and keeping the officers and men and the troops busy, they have the time for leisure activities, going on picnics, sight-seeing and enjoying the fabulous night-life of Noumea.