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MFG2 TAKES ON MANY ROLES

"We wage the naval war for the Navy from the air - as an independent naval warfare resource or in support of the maritime fleet," says Captain Michael Mollenhauer, commodore of Naval Aviation Wing MFG 2. As the Navy's vessels operate all over the world, a high degree of mobility is required. "We fly wherever the fleet goes," says Mollenhauer, describing the operating area of his Tornados.

That the grey swing-wing aircraft with the Naval anchor emblem on their fuselages are quite capable of operating far from their home base was demonstrated last year in an operation that had not been tried before - a NATO tactical evaluation or TacEval involving relocation to Ovar in Portugal. Unlike on previous exercises, it was necessary initially to set up an air base virtually from scratch using their own resources, following which 17 Tornados took part in the NATO "Linked Seas" exercise, using the new airfield as base.

For this purpose 750 servicemen from MFG 2, including naval protection and shore patrol units, were transported to Ovar. There, with the aid of just under 1,000 tonnes of supplies that had been sent to Portugal by sea, they provided the support necessary for the Tornados to take part in this major exercise off the Iberian peninsula - under the attentive eyes of over 100 NATO monitoring staff.

These found little to complain about, and the servicemen from Eggebek returned to Schleswig-Holstein with a very creditable evaluation  "fully mission capable" - the first time that a European NATO bomber wing had successfully completed such a test of its mobility.

This excellent rating is the outcome of selective modification of the fighter wing structures and intensive preparation in order to meet the changed and more demanding requirements of NATO. Whereas in the Cold War era it was mainly question of defending NATO territory from the home base against an attacker, today the Naval Air Arm is expected to deploy rapidly and in a wide variety of political and geographic scenarios for peacekeeping or peace enforcement operations in which it will be working alongside the armed forces of other NATO states. "We are part of the Navy's rapid-response forces and in Ovar we demonstrated our professionalism and expertise," says Mollenhauer.

To remain operationally ready, the crews of 1 and 2 Squadrons of MFG 2 are trained to perform both of the two primary maritime Tornado roles, fighter-bomber and reconnaissance. The aircraft are also used as fighter escorts for naval fighter-bomber missions and as tankers using the buddy-buddy system (from Tornado to Tornado).

In the fighter-bomber role the naval aviation pilots can draw on an impressive arsenal of weapons, ranging from Kormoran guided missiles for engaging surface vessel targets and the HARM missiles, familiar from the Kosovo conflict, for taking out enemy air defence positions to Sidewinder air-to-air rockets, bombs, mines and two on-board 27mm aircraft cannons.

The reconnaissance aircraft carry a recce pod with wide-angle and high-altitude cameras plus an infra-red linescan for use in bad weather and at night. This recce pod has already proved its capability in the Balkans - the Luftwaffe Tornados flew both in Bosnia and also in Kosovo with the naval version of the pods, as their own newly developed "German Air Force recce pods" were not yet available.

As well as the two front-line squadrons, MFG 2 has a third airborne squadron which is responsible for Navy-specific initial tactical training for all new Tornado crew and in-depth training of pilots and weapon systems officers for 1 and 2 Squadrons. Also attached to 3 Squadron is the Tactics and Trials Group (GTV), which has the task of improving tactical procedures and is involved when any systems are to be procured for the Tornado - MFG 2 with its 1,500 servicemen and 500 civilians is almost an autonomous naval version of the Luftwaffe in miniature, complete with front-line, training and testing components.

But not everything is perfect. Of the 49 aircraft which theoretically make up the inventory of the wing, currently around ten are with industry, undergoing midlife inspections or depot level maintenance. Factors contributing to the low operational ready rate are an inadequate supply of spare parts combined with the age of the jets - the Tornado has been in service with the Navy since 1982. At that time MFG 1, based in Jagel near Schleswig, which has since been disbanded, was the first unit to be equipped with the new variable-geometry aircraft; MFG 2 got its aircraft four years later.

In the wake of the troop reductions which took place following German reunification, MFG 1 and MFG 2 were merged together in 1993 into a single, larger and reorganised wing based in Eggebek. Symbolically the insignia of both units were merged into the badge used today by the "new MFG 2". The long-established naval air base at Jagel, together with some of its aircraft, was transferred to the Luftwaffe, since when it has been home to Reconnaissance Wing 51 "Immelmann".

The fact that so many aircraft are unserviceable is a matter of concern to Captain Mollenhauer, since fewer aircraft means fewer flying hours, which in turn means less training for the crews. "Normally we fly 10,300 hours per year, but last year we only managed 8,340, and 8,400 are budgeted for this year," he says. Only in 2002 will the situation start to ease up.

Another problem requiring urgent attention is the lack of recruits coming forward for both flying roles and technical trades. "In the recruitment stakes we are falling behind even the Luftwaffe, which also is having trouble attracting sufficient new personnel to satisfy its manpower requirements," says Mollenhauer.

"The reason is the uniqueness of this unit - hardly anyone knows that the Navy also has Tornados." It is precisely this uniqueness which is the source of the high motivation of the crews based in Eggebek. "The wide variety of missions and flying at sea offer a lot more development opportunities - the flying we do is more interesting and more varied, but also more demanding," according to Mollenhauer.

And this is likely to remain the case if everything proceeds according to the plans for the future of the jet aircraft component of the German Navy. "There are no plans to reduce the fighter-bomber component any further," says Vice Admiral Lutz Feldt, commander of the fleet and hence in charge of all shipborne and airborne units of the Navy since April 2000. In his view, the long-term future of this component lies in multinational European operations. The Tornado will of course have to fly many more years for the fleet. But "when the decision is made about a successor, we will have to consider the option of procuring an aircraft capable of operating from a carrier so that we can fly missions from the carriers of our allies." That will make the job in the cockpit of the naval combat aircraft even more varied and challenging.

From page 60 of FLUG REVUE 6/2001