Sometimes personal experiences from the field can drive home the critical importance of aircraft self-protection systems—and survivability work overall—in a way that technical reports and manuals cannot. In the mid-2000s, I was working as an active-duty Air Force aircraft electronic warfare (EW) systems technician at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, supporting the Air Mobility Command’s C-130H fleet. The C-130 is officially known as “Hercules,” but many of us affectionately called them “Trash Haulers” for their tireless workhorse role, no matter the cargo. A regular mission for the aircraft consisted of flying from our main base to a forward operating base (FOB) to exchange cargo and personnel, then proceeding to a second, third, and sometimes fourth FOB before returning home.
On a typical return flight, the crew would often make a “15-minute out” radio call to base operations, giving an overall status of the aircraft and mission. On occasion, the crew would also request a specific maintenance specialty to meet the aircraft upon parking. This would allow them to show an issue directly to a technician, rather than just documenting it in the maintenance logs.
One day, the 15-minute out call came in, and the crew requested an EW technician to meet them. A request such as this is almost always a bad sign for EW technicians, eliciting scenarios of malfunctioning systems in our minds, such as a flare that failed to dispense, an uncommanded release, or a critical missile warning failure. Thus, we prepared for the worst as we stood on the tarmac and waited for the aircraft to park.
Normally, after the engines shut down, the loadmaster is the first to open the crew door to begin post-flight inspections. But this time, the pilot himself emerged first and headed straight for us. He asked if we were the EW techs. When we confirmed that we were, he didn’t debrief us; instead, he simply demanded to shake our hands.
Stunned, we asked what happened. He told us that his aircraft and crew had just survived five confirmed missile launches. Two had occurred during approaches on two different legs of the flight, and the other three had occurred during departures. On each one, the missile warning system had alerted the crew, the countermeasures had dispensed flares automatically, and the crew had visually confirmed the missiles diverting to the flares. In short, everything had worked just as it should have.
For me, the pilot’s handshake that day was not just a gesture of appreciation; it was an affirmation of a long chain of success—including everything from the engineer’s design, the manufacturer’s assembly, the tester’s validation, and the technician’s diligent maintenance. For those on the flight line, the work can admittedly feel abstract at times and limited to routine checklists and diagnostics. But there is nothing routine about combat. And on that day in Qatar, five defeated missiles provided real-time, real-world confirmation that what we do does indeed save lives.
Ultimately, the incident served as yet another simple but profound reminder that the trust our aircrews place in our systems is sacred. And that trust is not just in hardware but in every person who plays a role in ensuring those systems perform as designed, as effectively and reliably as possible, and when the very most is at stake.
About the Authors
Mr. Michael Clement currently serves as the Lead Software Engineer for Electro-Optical/Infrared (EO/IR) Systems Sustainment and the Georgia Tech Simulations Integrated Modeling System (Mod/Sim) for EO/IR systems with the 579th Software Engineering Squadron at Robins AFB, GA. He has almost four decades of experience in EW and aircraft survivability, including 24 years of active duty service in the U.S. Air Force. As an EW technician, he supported a wide spectrum of mission-critical assets, including the B-52G strategic bomber, the MH-53J Pave Low special operations helicopter, and ground-link systems for the U-2 Dragon Lady. Mr. Clement holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of Management and Technology.
U.S. Air National Guard Photo by SSgt. Jon Alderman
