Naval Air Tactics Centre

The NATC insignia introduced in 1981.

The Naval Air Tactics Centre (NATC) (Acrean Nordic: Marine Luftkrigföringtaktik Centrum, Venetian: Navaleaéro Tactiques de guerre Centrem) is a joint command of the Royal Acrean Air Force and Royal Acrean Navy which serves as a center of development for fighter and strike tactics, and teaches advanced tactics to select aviators of the RAAF and Navy to qualify them as squadron instructors. NATC is considered an advanced "graduate level" course that builds upon the comprehensive air combat syllabus all Acrean fighter aircrew go through during the Fighter Weapons School (FWS) phase of their training.

History

NATC was established by the Royal Acrean Navy on March 3, 1968 at MFS Maré in Maré-Seyne, Côte d'Or, in order to consolidate the development of emerging tactics used by carrier aircrews. A similar program had been initiated a few years earlier in 1964, but was done as a component of fleet training. NATC quickly established itself as an authority on the development and instruction of advanced air combat tactics. The RAAF sent its first pilots to NATC in 1969, and introduced a similar program called "Advanced Air Tactics Instruction (AATI)" in 1971. The Air Force program was relatively short-lived; in 1976, the program was rolled into NATC, with its instructors joining the NATC staff. NATC officially became a joint program in 1978, and was established as its own joint command in 1981.

Early on, effective and extremely high quality instructors were identified as the key to NATC's success in improving the performance of pilots across the squadrons. It was built from a cadre of some of the Acrean Navy and Air Force's most operationally experienced officers, and quickly became a nucleus of subject matter expertise on all aspects of tactical fighter aviation included weapon systems and their employment. Instructor staff at NATC are required to be subject matter experts on at least one subject (such as adversary surface-to-air threats, fighter threats, strike tactics, etc.) and will teach their class as part of NATC's 16-week course. Students at NATC are expected to not only learn and employ this knowledge, but to also understand it to a degree that allows them to serve as training officers in their operational squadrons.

NATC is considered one of the most significant repositories of knowledge on global fighter aviation in Acrea and maintains several qualified test pilots on its staff. In addition to flying aggressor versions of Acrean and allied aircraft, including the Ossorian T-35 Séideán and various examples of the AFASF-12 Drago, NATC also maintains a significant fleet of captured adversary fighters and is known to fly examples of the JF10 and JF9 as part of its exploitation programs.

Missions

Training

RAAF EF-650s fly alongside NATC aggressor JF10s.

Adversary Air and Exploitation

Aside from its air combat training curriculum, exploitation and evaluation is one of the most critical aspects of NATC. Its capability in this area was developed with VX-1, an joint service aggressor, test, and evaluation squadron placed directly under the control of NATC in 1976. VX-1's task is the evaluation of potential foreign adversary aircraft, and utilising them in various training exercises as 'Red Air' opposition.

VX-1 and NATC's role grew more critical with the outbreak of the Refusal War. Although VX-1 and NATC flew a large number of older captured JF8 fighters in the adversary role, the acquisition of a Syaran-produced Nephele from a defected Royalist pilot seeking refuge was a boon to the program's prestige and effect on operations. Testing and evaluation of the aircraft assessed it favourably compared to contemporary Acrean fighters. Test pilots were impressed by the Nephele's high top speed and interceptor performance, as well as its maneuverability for such a large and heavy fighter. Compared to it's main counterpart in the EF-181, however, they found it to be underpowered and at a disadvantage in a close dogfight. The Nephele's engines were prone to compressor stalls, limiting its high-alpha performance, and its use of spoilers rather than ailerons due to its swing-wing design gave it very poor roll authority at low speed. It also lacked the high off-boresight missiles favoured by Acrean pilots. However at long range, the Nephele's high speed and powerful radar made it extremely dangerous. The RAAF and Navy used this information to great effect to minimise the advantages of Warden-flown Nepeheles, and to better coordinate with allied Royalist pilots by covering their disadvantages.

The importance of NATC and its aggressor and exploitation programs during the Refusal War led to a number of industry initatives in Acrea, most notably the start of a production plant by Aestrup which produced a vast swathe of Nepehele parts that were used to supply the Royalist forces to keep their aircraft in the war, and to allow NATC to keep its own Nepeheles flying. The number of adversary aircraft flown by VX-1 would expand to the point that a second squadron, VX-7, was stood up in 1986 to assist. By the end of the Refusal War, just over half a dozen Nepheles and approximately two dozen JF8s and Erinyses were added to NATC's inventory. The NATC would continue to use the Nepehele as one of its primary adversary aircraft due to its continued use by both Syara and Aethurheim, leading to a number of Acrean-made airframes being produced for use as aggressor and test platforms under the designation EF-141.

Today, VX-1 and VX-7 remain the premier test and aggressor squadrons in Acrean military aviation. In 2012, the squadrons retired their fleet of JF8s, Erinyses, Nepheles, JF9s, and EF-141s. Their inventory of foreign aircraft was later bolstered in 2015 by a number of Aethurian fighters captured during the Midsummer War, and the squadrons procured a small number of EF-216s, an Acrean-produced version of the Cacertian NSF-13 originally developed and produced for the Imperial Shalumite Air Force.

Legacy

Throughout its history, NATC has had a consequential effect on Acrean tactical naval aviation, as well as a significant influence on military tactical aviation in the Acrean military as a whole. This influence was first demonstrated in the late 1960s when the first tender for the next generation of frontline naval fighters was introduced. Two competing needs initially existed: the first was for a capable, affordable, durable strike fighter which could perform any strike mission the Navy required. The second was for a fleet defence fighter, which could fly high and fast with a large air-air payload to confront new threats such as the AFSB-2 Spettro Strategic Bomber. Although the Navy focused on the development of the former, NATC's influence played a large part in the altering requirements for the then in-development EF-181 Cobra. Due to NATC's lobbying, the fighter significantly overhauled with much more powerful engines, a more powerful radar, and was accompanied by new missiles to allow the already highly agile and nimble fighter to perform all of the air combat missions NATC envisioned, and match or exceed the performance of competing adversary naval fighter aircraft. The Cobra's introduction into service brought the already joint program closer together, as the RAAF adopted the new fighter as a stopgap heavy fighter until its own program which would eventually lead to the EF-165 Draken came to fruition.