British Army Sergeant Lee Neil is training a team of Forward Air Controllers at Náměšť
Air Base in the Czech Republic.
Some 20 nations are taking part in "Ramstein Rover", the largest live-fire exercise of
its kind.
The aim is to train the specialist skill of guiding fighter jets and attack helicopters
onto ground targets in accordance with NATO standards.
We've asked to get as close to the action as possible.
"You will be pretty close and you will be next to armoured vehicles as they're firing.
But you'll be kept as safe as we can keep you -- as we would do with our troops on the
ground."
With that reassuring promise we join Sergeant Neil and his team as they head off to provide
close air support to a Czech infantry unit.
The role of Forward Air Controllers is to coordinate air strikes in support of ground
troops.
Neil's job is to ensure they communicate clearly and use NATO's standardized safety procedures.
"We do NOT allow the Forward Air Controllers to drop anything unless they have gone through
strict procedures of: one - is it the final result?
two - what collateral damage could be caused?
At which point clearly we hope for zero collateral damage, zero civilian casualties, but also
what's the risk to the friendly forces."
Three minutes to landing.
The gunner fires at pop-up targets.
The team must jump out quickly and run for cover.
Sergeant Neil and his team have all served in southern Afghanistan and will go again
next year.
Although the ISAF mission will wind down by the end of 2014, Forward Air Controlling is
a capability the Alliance is keen to maintain for the future.
"Black car!
On the right" "Yes!"
The Czech Commander points out the targets.
His troops are under mortar attack.
They've called for close air support for their own protection.
"We have intel that in this area could be..."
"Sorry!
Talk to your aircraft, take the message in a minute, you've got aircraft in a space that
need controlling!"
"OK yes!"
..... The Forward Air Controller must locate the
target, assess the situation and brief the pilot.
"Target location 33 Uniform X-ray Romeo 8 zero 9 zero 5 3."
"Time mark nil, location of friendlies is west ONE kilometre.
Ingress just established the overhead, ready for re-attack."
The trainees are meticulous.
They must take their time to ensure the pilots have the correct target in view.
"To talk a pilot onto a target especially a small target, it's easy if there's large
features and you can go: "see that building, see that car, see that bridge".
However, here we've got quite featureless terrain, there's not a lot to bring the pilots
eye to to get him to a known point where you can talk him onto target.
So it just takes quite a while, obviously he's moving round in a wheel to get him on
the target."
By the end Sergeant Neil says they've done well.
Slowly but surely they've hit all the targets.
"The ground commander's intent was met, all the targets have been destroyed.
The aircraft have now run out of ammunition and had to RTB for rearm and refuel.
We're now going to go back for tea and medals!"
As the British team leaves, their Italian Allies arrive to train to the exact same NATO
standards.
In total some 90 Forward Air Controllers are certified during this exercise.
An important step towards retaining a key capability for the future.