US and RAAF fighter aces duke it out over Top End skies in joint military exercise Talisman Sabre

It’s 20,000 feet above the Timor Sea and the Aussies and US top guns are locked in battle for bragging rights of Top End skies. Watch the video.

Jason Walls

@jas_walls

less than 2 min read

August 2, 2023 - 4:28PM

Northern Territory

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It’s 20,000 feet above the Timor Sea and Australian and US forces are locked in combat as top guns from both countries dogfight over which nation reigns supreme over Top End skies.

Behind the sticks of a KC-30A multi-role tanker transport aircraft, Royal Australian Air Force Flight Lieutenant Daniel Ellick is technically one of the bad guys for this exercise.

He’s backing up US fighter jets from the Red Team as they do battle with their mortal enemies on the Blue Team, who are playing the role of the good guys in joint military exercise Talisman Sabre.

“Today we’re actually playing red air — or the enemy — and it gives us a chance for us to split our resources into blue forces and red forces and to try to make life as hard as we can for the good guys,” he says.

It’s Flight Lieutenant Ellick’s role in today’s exercise to hold an even keel as the US fighter aces refuel mid-air from the KC-30A before rejoining to the fray.

Royal Australian Air Force KC-30A multi-role tanker transport aircraft pilot Flight Lieutenant Daniel Ellick. Picture: Jason Walls

“Our job’s pretty much just to support their fight as best that we can, so we’re hanging back in a relatively safe area of the air space,” he says.

“But those guys out there are launching off the carriers and coming out straight to us in the airspace and then going straight to the fight.

“We’ll have a debrief after this that’ll go for many hours and see what they did and what we did and where the good guys at the end of the day can move forward with it.”

While there’s no actual war on and only bragging rights are up for grabs post debrief, Flight Lieutenant Ellick says it’s also “hugely important” to help maintain interoperability between allies should conflict break out.

“Honestly it’s just a fantastic opportunity for us to engage with them and to validate our own tactics and procedures to move forward and be able to operate with them easier in the future,” he says.