How Does Inzpire Support the RAF QWI Course?
07 Nov 16
Aviation Experts
07 Nov 16
Aviation Experts
Exercise COBRA WARRIOR is the end-of-course event for trainee Qualified Weapons Instructors. That exercise aims to provide a similar operational test to the one ‘Maverick’ and his course mates experienced at the end of the movie ‘Top Gun’ when they were sent to support a real operation the day they graduated. Inzpire’s role in Ex COBRA WARRIOR is to provide the ‘White Force’; we design, deliver, mentor the planning and help debrief each scenario during the 3-week exercise.
A natural evolution of this White Force service is to provide the same support to the QWI staff training the candidates who will be tested by Ex COBRA WARRIOR at the end of their course; in August a team of Inzpire SMEs began doing just that on 29 Squadron, based at RAF Coningsby.
As the Eurofighter Typhoon Operational Conversion Unit, 29 Squadron are charged with the task of training every pilot who flies Typhoon in the RAF plus an increasing number of foreign air forces' pilots too. This means instructing pilots at all levels; from day one ab-initio Operational Conversion through to post graduate events like the QWI course.
The Typhoon QWI course runs for over 6 months and culminates in the 7-week long Exercise TRIPLEX WARRIOR, named after the Squadron’s famed triple X colours which have adorned side of their aircraft since the 1920s just as they do today.
Ex TRIPLEX WARRIOR is a complex and well established exercise which has run successfully for many years. So what does Inzpire’s small team bring to 29 Squadron? The answer is in 2 words: capacity and expertise.
Capacity
An exercise like Ex TRIPLEX WARRIOR takes weeks of preparation and planning. It involves large amounts of aircraft and needs to provide realistic, coherent training. In the past, this work has been carried out by the Squadron’s small number of QWI staff, but now Inzpire’s team of experts can carry that load and, in turn, generate capacity for the QWI staff to concentrate on instructing and supervising the QWI candidates both on the ground and in the air. We also help generate even more capacity for the QWI staff by mentoring the QWI candidates during the planning phase of the each scenario.
Expertise
As with all our services, Inzpire have sourced the most highly qualified and respected retired military experts available to fill the roles within 29 Squadron. Not only has Inzpire provided deep Typhoon expertise but also ISR and C2 experience. By bringing the lessons and methods developed over 10 years of delivering team and collective training, our experts will help broaden the training provided to Typhoon QWI candidates. Having members of the same team providing the White Force services to both 29 and 92 Squadrons will also make the combined training experience of Ex TRIPLEX WARRIOR and Ex COBRA WARRIOR even more coherent and efficient.
Image: MOD Crown Copyright, SAC Scott Lewis, defenceimagery.com
To find out more about our current vacancies involved in the delivery of this support, please visit our careers page.
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