Add hard work and stir: instant Wing in Afghanistan

Air Capability Activation Team sets the conditions for mission success

By Major Catherine Potts

Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan — On 6 December 2008, the stand-up of the Joint Task Force Afghanistan (JTF-Afg) Air Wing ushered in a new era in Canadian Forces air operations. Canadian airmen and airwomen have deployed literally around the world on a wide variety of missions over the years, but the JTF-Afg Air Wing is the first formation of its type that Canada has formed in a theatre of war since 1945.

Thanks to the work of the Air Capability Activation Team (ACAT), the JTF-Afg Air Wing stood up on schedule and in record time.

Laying the foundation

Introducing a major new capability such as the Air Wing to Afghanistan may seem relatively straight-forward, but it is no mean feat to move about 450 people with aircraft and equipment from Canada to Afghanistan.

When Parliament passed the motion to extend Canada’s mission in Afghanistan to 2011, it set off a flurry of military planning activities that culminated in the acquisition of six CH-147 Chinook D helicopters from the U.S. Army, and the award of contracts for heavy-lift helicopter services and Heron unmanned aerial vehicles. To form the JTF-Afg Air Wing, these new capabilities would join eight CH-146 Griffon helicopters to be moved from Canada, the Sperwer tactical UAVs already deployed in Kandahar, and the three CC-130 Hercules tactical transports that have been operating between the Persian Gulf region and Afghanistan since 2002.

And it all had to get done fast. With only a little more than a month between the vote in Parliament and the date when the ACAT’s lead integration element was due to arrive at Kandahar Airfield, the logistical planners faced a daunting task.

The ACAT totalled 29 personnel drawn from the Canadian Forces Joint Support Group and the Canadian Forces Joint Signal Regiment in Kingston, 3 Unité de soutien du Canada in Montréal, the Assistant Deputy Minister (Materiel) Group at National Defence Headquarters in Ottawa, and 1 Canadian Air Division Headquarters in Winnipeg. Team members deployed only as long as they were needed for their specific tasks.

When asked how she felt about her ACAT deployment, resource management support clerk Corporal Tammy MacDonald of the Signal Regiment said, “I was thrilled to be able to assist in any way that they needed.” Cpl MacDonald was tasked to help the National Support Element handle the extra personnel reception and dispatch work required to support the ACAT deployment.

Getting it done

The ACAT lead element arrived at Kandahar Airfield without fanfare in early June 2008, and quietly began the behind-the-scenes co-ordination required to add some 450 military and civilian personnel, plus all their equipment, to an already overcrowded NATO base.

With the expert help of 192 Airfield Engineering Flight from Aldergrove, B.C, the JTF‑Afg engineers quickly built 32 ISO units (flat-packed construction modules), a deployable hangar, and numerous Weatherhaven shelters for living quarters and office space. Captain Jonathan Pilon, the ACAT’s site-readiness co-ordinator, marvelled at the accomplishment. “The effort put forth into site readiness has given the Air Wing a significant head start in reaching their operational objectives,” he said.

The overall integration effort was exhausting. ACAT activities included co-ordination of personnel, accommodations, feeding, infrastructure and office requirements; installing MEX 26 shelters (extra-large tents for use as hangars and workshops); carpentry work; equipment reception; rental vehicle co-ordination; positioning sea-containers for equipment storage; preparing and installing communications and information systems; confirming fuel availability; pre-positioning consumable items; finding bulk-storage areas; and even ensuring the availability of laundry bags.

The airlift required to move all these capabilities to Afghanistan — more than 400 metric tons of equipment — comprised both chartered and CF aircraft and crews. The ACAT movement co-ordinator, Master Warrant Officer Mark Ezard of the Joint Support Group, summed up the importance of movement to such a complex integration: “Nothing happens until something moves.”

As the integration progressed, the Air Wing soon became so technology-heavy that more linemen were needed from the Signal Regiment. The communications and information systems requirements included connectivity to six different communication systems and, to achieve that, two kilometres of new trenches were dug, 52 offices got new cabling, 88 telephones were wired, and 225 computers were set up and configured.

The last word

“The op tempo was fast and furious, with so many moving parts that needed co‑ordination,” said MWO Kevin Luther, the ACAT Sergeant Major. “We landed in Kandahar and immediately accelerated into a full sprint, with a clear objective to facilitate the integration of the Air Wing.”
Mission accomplished!

Maj Catherine Potts is the officer commanding the Air Capability Activation Team.