CAS Qualification

The CAS qualification ensures that our pilots and JTAC’s follow the standard procedure set by MA regarding CAS. The CAS qualification aims to give our pilots who have received their wings another goal/milestone to work towards. Since CAS is a procedure where own troops and/or civilians are close to the target the pilot should have good knowledge about weapon delivery, navigation and passed the CAS qualification for the specific aircraft that will be used during CAS-missions. As a JTAC you should be well-informed regarding routines/procedures concerning laser tactics, target availability assessment and so on. A misdirected engagement could result in catastrophic consequences.

Basic Qualification CAS

Qualifications

Basic Qualification CAS

BQ CAS focus on the basic of CAS procedures for a specific role and therefore divided in to three sections, all with its own qualification:

• CAS Pilot (Fixed Wing)
• CAS Pilot (Rotary Wing)
• JTAC

Passing the qualification allows you to carry out medium-high level CAS missions during daytime in the role that you qualified in.

Advanced Qualification CAS

(Work in Progress. Not available)

AQ CAS focus on single procedures to expand the pilot's ability to perform CAS in all conditions. Prerequisites is BQ CAS in the same role/aircraft (e.g If you are a BQ CAS qualified pilot in a F-16 then you can only move on to Low-level procedures in a F-16. Same goes if you are a BQ CAS qualified JTAC you can only move on to Low-level procedures as a JTAC). Proceduers to be qualified in are:

• Low-level
• Night
• Killbox

CAS Pilot (Fixed Wing)

How to train

• Read the Tactical guide for Close air support (take notes of things that are unclear) -> Link
• Ask for help in our CAS channel in Discord to get the answer to your questions above.
• Ping @JTACs and ask anyone to occupy a JTAC slot and help you practice and work your way through the various parts of the CAS-syllabus (Fixed-wing section).

How to qualify

• Carefully go through the CAS-syllabus Fixed-wing section (WIP) and ask yourself for every item "Do I know how to do this thing?” This is the most crucial step, and we trust you to be fair to yourself. Be disciplined, but don't be overly self-critical.
• You are expected to have all your technical stuff working (SRS and such), show up on CP as briefed and be able to follow instructions given by JTAC.
• Ask somebody to act as your examinating instructor. It can be anyone who has completed the JTAC qualification.
• The instructor prepares a short sortie, called a CAS Qual checkride. Here you will fly a simple CAS-mission and engage 2-4 targets.
• If you did okay, you will qualify and your instructor will let us know on Discord.
• If you did not pass (meaning something went really bad, like you clearly didn't know how to employ a weapon), you are free to try again, as many times as you like, as long as you take responsibility for reading up on the stuff that didn't go so well.

If you qualify

• Your callsign will be added to the list in the Discord #CAS-quals channel.

CAS Pilot (Rotary Wing)

How to train

• Read the Tactical guide for Close air support (take notes of things that are unclear) -> Link
• Ask for help in our CAS channel in Discord to get the answer to your questions above.
• Ping @JTACs and ask anyone to occupy a JTAC slot and help you practice and work your way through the various parts of the CAS-syllabus (Rotary-wing section).

How to qualify

• Carefully go through the CAS-syllabus Rotary-wing section (WIP) and ask yourself for every item "Do I know how to do this thing?” This is the most crucial step, and we trust you to be fair to yourself. Be disciplined, but don't be overly self-critical.
• You are expected to have all your technical stuff working (SRS and such), show up on HA as briefed and be able to follow instructions given by JTAC.
• Ask somebody to act as your examinating instructor. It can be anyone who has completed the JTAC qualification.
• The instructor prepares a short sortie, called a CAS Qual checkride. Here you will fly a simple CAS-mission and engage 2-4 targets.
• If you did okay, you will qualify and your instructor will let us know on Discord.
• If you did not pass (meaning something went really bad, like you clearly didn't know how to employ a weapon), you are free to try again, as many times as you like, as long as you take responsibility for reading up on the stuff that didn't go so well.

If you qualify

• Your callsign will be added to the list in the Discord #CAS-quals channel.

JTAC

How to train

• Read the Tactical guide for Close air support (take notes of things that are unclear) -> Link
• Ask for help in our CAS channel in Discord to get the answer to your questions above.
• Ping @JTAC/@CAS-pilots and ask anyone to fly as a CAS asset and help you practice and work your way through the various parts of the CAS-syllabus (JTAC section).

How to qualify

• Carefully go through the CAS-syllabus JTAC section (WIP) and ask yourself for every item "Do I know how to do this thing?” This is the most crucial step, and we trust you to be fair to yourself. Be disciplined, but don't be overly self-critical.
• You are expected to have all your technical stuff working (SRS and such) and be ready to receive a Check-in on time as briefed.
• Ask somebody to act as your examinating instructor. It can be anyone who has completed the JTAC qualification. Ask any qualified CAS Pilot Fixed-wing and Rotary-wing to fly as CAS-assets or if the examinating instructor feels that he/she can be examinating and fly at the same time (JTAC needs to be CAS Pilot qualified for the asset he/she flies.)
• The instructor prepares a short sortie, called a CAS Qual checkride. Here you will receive two CAS asset and engage 2-6 targets. You will receive one fixed-wing and one rotary-winged asset.
• If you did okay, you will qualify and your instructor will let us know on Discord.
• If you did not pass (meaning something went really bad, like you clearly didn't know how to send a CAS-brief), you are free to try again, as many times as you like, as long as you take responsibility for reading up on the stuff that didn't go so well.

If you qualify

• Your callsign will be added to the list in the Discord #CAS-quals channel.

Advanced Qualification CAS

(Work in Progress. Not available)

Low-level

(WIP)

Night

(WIP)

Killbox

(WIP)

Instructor Guidelines

Preparations

• Schedule the checkride with the student.
• When on the server, Deploy units manually (Contact DeadGun for target positions)

As a JTAC prepare:

• Situation update
• For fixed-wing:
  1. CP
  2. Echo point
  3. CAS-brief 1

     - BOC, Type 2, JTAC LASED, GBU-12, T-55

  4. CAS-brief 2

     - BOT, Type 2, TALK-ON, JDAM, T-55

• For rotary-wing:
  1. HA and BP
  2. CAS-brief 3 (9-line)

     - BOT Type 2, Marked by smoke, SA-9

  3. CAS-brief 4 (5-line)

     - BOT Type 3, Engagement window ≈5min, 3xUral 375

As a PILOT:

• For the first sortie:
  1. Fly an aircraft suited for CAS with TGP, at least 1xGBU-12 and 1xGBU-38 or similar 500lb JDAM (No LJDAM)
  2. Prepare Check-In
• For the second sortie:
  1. Fly a helicopter suited for CAS with Rockets/AT-missiles in order to take out 1xSA-9 ≈5nm and 3xTruck ≈1nm
  2. Prepare Check-In

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Examination

• Ask the student some sample questions (3-4 is usually enough) to make sure they have grasped the CAS contents before starting the examination. Some example questions:

  - "What does D10 mean in a keyhole procedure?"

  - "What does the pilot mean when he calls “10 seconds”?”

  - "What lines do you read back as a pilot in a CAS-Brief?"

• Give the student CP/HA/BP locations, Radio freq. and loadout
• The examination starts at takeoff from Kutaisi or FARP and ends when JTAC has cleared the Pilot to RTB

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Fixed-wing student:

• To pass the sortie must include:

  - Check-in

  - Echo point and keyhole instructions

  - Situation update

  - Gameplan and CAS-brief 1

  - Gameplan and CAS-brief 2

• TALK-ON

If any part is left out completely the checkride is FAILED

Example of things that will result in a FAILED checkride (which is not a big deal, they can just do it again later):

• Fails to

  - Follow keyhole/HA/BP/CAS-brief instructions.

  - Readback correct lines/parts of CAS-brief

  - Call:

  • “Tally”
  • “Leaving IP”
  • “In hot xxx˚” (xxx˚ as briefed)
  • “10-sec”
  • “Laser on”

  - Deploy weapons on briefed coordinates/target

  • GBU-12 hit >10m from target
  • JDAM hit >30m from target

• Calls the wrong attack heading
• Crashes/shot down due to pilot unable to follow JTAC instructions

If the student reads back the whole CAS-brief instead of just lines 4,6,8 and remarks in one of the two attacks it is not mandatory to result in a failed checkride.

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Rotary-wing student:

• To pass the sortie must include:

  - Check-in

  - Push to HA

  - Situation update

  - Gameplan and CAS-brief 3

  - Gameplan and CAS-brief 4

If any part is left out completely the checkride is FAILED

Example of things that will result in a FAILED checkride (which is not a big deal, they can just do it again later):

• Fails to:

  - Follow keyhole/HA/BP/CAS-brief instructions.

  - Readback correct lines/parts of CAS-brief

  - Call:

  • “Pushing” to BP
  • “Mark”
  • “Tally”
  • “In hot xxx˚” (xxx˚ as briefed)
  • “Engagement complete”

  - Deploy weapons on briefed coordinates/target

  • GBU-12 hit >10m from target
  • JDAM hit >30m from target

• Crashes/shot down due to pilot unable to follow JTAC instructions
• Calls the wrong attack heading

---

JTAC student:

To pass the student need to complete two sorties.

• The first sortie must include:

- Check-in

- Echo point and keyhole instructions

- Situation update

- Gameplan and CAS-brief 1

• BOC, Type 2, JTAC LASED, GBU-12

- Gameplan and CAS-brief 2

• BOT, Type 2, TALK-ON, JDAM

• The second sortie must include:

- Check-in

- Push to HA

- Situation update

- Gameplan and CAS-brief 3

• BOT Type 2, Marked by smoke

- Gameplan and CAS-brief 4

• BOT Type 3, Engagement window ≈5min

If any part is left out completely the checkride is FAILED

Example of things that will result in a FAILED checkride (which is not a big deal, they can just do it again later):

• Student fails to:

  - Send correct Gameplan or CAS-brief

  - Give correct keyhole/HA/BP instructions

  - Request system readback on tgt coordinates

  - Give FAH 10˚-60˚ off to the left/right of L-T Line when using GBU-12

  - Start lasing when pilot calls for laser

  - Hit targets due to incorrect coordinates/laser code etc.

  - Get pilot “Tally” on target through Talk-on

  - call:

  • “Continue”
  • “Cleared hot”
  • “Mark on target”
  • “Lasing”

• Clears wrong attack heading.
• Aircraft crash/shot down due to poor decision/instruction from JTAC

If the student gives Echo point before Check-in it is not mandatory to result in a failed checkride. The two sorties do not need to be flown in the same session tho both need to be passed before qualification is passed. If most things work well, the student passes, and you should write a confirmation/congratulation in the #CAS-qual-rep