Ready, Aim, Fire!

  • Published
  • By Airman First Class Erin Zabarnick
  • 48th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
ROYAL AIR FORCE LAKENHEATH, ENGLAND --  RAF Feltwell's combat arms range is back and open for business after being closed for ten months.

The complex was built in 1989 and was shut down due to safety hazards and outdated Air Force firing range requirements. While the main complex was closed, the trainers and personnel traveled a total of 4,200 miles between RAF Alconbury, Stanford training area and Molesworth and were still able to train approximately 3,406 personnel with zero mission delays.

"It has been a long and difficult time, to say the least, these past ten months," said Tech. Sgt. Oscar Ochoa, 48th Security Forces Squadron NCO in charge of combat arms. "We still conducted classes as normal but we had to travel to four different RAF ranges. Basically, we only taught Monday through Wednesday, and Thursday was our "range" day to complete all the firing for the week, making it a two to three day ordeal for personnel that needed training."

The new range cost approximately $4.2 million to build and has had some major changes.

The new range is now fully contained which allows for diverse courses of fire, a new bullet trap system, which collects all the lead projectiles and an electronic target system, which runs off compressed air. The range can accommodate up to 21 shooters and has two bays allowing multiple type weapons to be fired simultaneously. The new construction also eliminated the need for a surface and vertical danger zone, greatly reducing the amount of lead particles in the air.

"The new range challenges our students because the new targets are able to rotate and we are better able to enforce our time limits," said Staff Sgt. Joseph Lukas, 48th SFS combat arms instructor. "I mean the whole thing about training with weapons is speed, speed, speed and accuracy. "

The new changes are having a positive effect overall.

"It is definitely easier to maintain and more cost effective with the de-leading process," said Sergeant Ochoa. "The target system and bullet trap are great upgrades we can allow more intensive and realistic courses of fire due to the range being fully enclosed."

1st Lt. Evan Kelly, 56th Fighter Squadron HH-60G Pavehawk helicopter pilot, added ,"I like the new range because I don't have to travel to more than one place to train."

The range is open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. with the occasional exception for night fire courses, machine gun courses and Air Expeditionary Force surges, etc. The new complex is expecting to train approximately 6.5 to 7 thousand warfighters, increase of 1.5 to 2 thousand from previous years, due to RAF Molesworth's range closing down.

"This closure makes RAF Feltwell 's range complex the only active combat arms section in the UK responsible for 91 tenant units, which encompass the 48th Fighter Wing, 100th Air Refueling Wing, 501st Combat Support Wing, 352nd Special Operations Group and other geographically separated units/sister service detachments", said Sergeant Ochoa.
Weapons' training is essential to ensure Airmen are properly trained and combat ready at all times.

"It's important to be skilled and know how to employ these weapons effectively and safely," said Lieutenant Kelly.

Sergeant Lukas added, "No one can deploy, permanently change their station and even arm up for duty without us, so I feel that I have an extremely important job in the Air Force."

Sergeant Ochoa has been working in Combat Arms since March 2003 and finds his job to be extremely fulfilling.

"I find just interacting and ensuring that our warfighters are fully prepared and capable of utilizing their weapon gives me great satisfaction", said Sergeant Ochoa. "I would like to thank all the tenant units we service for their time and patience during our range closure, from deployer, to day-to-day mission requirements, together we got the job done and fulfilled all USAF mission taskings."