European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 23, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sunday october 23,19bb the stars and stripes pages is out scrip Milne first 1,l Thorn Wallace explains the intricacies of inc  system hut helps Pitts Sharpen their i Rolinc skills at Ducimo Mannu and in Sardinia. Wizardry helps teach do fighters new tricks  Mediterranean Bureau on a hoi afternoon. Spitfire one and two. A pair of Royal air Force f-4s. Dulled in a cloudless sky against two italian air Force f-l04s. As the fighters engaged Over an area off Sardinia s West coast olm pm is followed the action on electronic displays Al nearby Decimo Tannu a. An  and a a British fighter let Loose rocket at tacks killing each other off seconds later the remain ing British phantom downed ils italian adversary. Cood kill. Jack dem Mannu radioed the surviving iritis i Pilot. In reality not a shot had been fired. The warring had been simulated with the base s air i Ombal a neutering instrumentation system the Complex com Puter equipment thai makes Decimo Mannu Ideal for dueling in the Sun to establish nato s top gun. The Ami system provides a Means of safely train ing aircrews and evaluating their effectiveness in All aspects of air combat. Analysis of air to air combat in Southeast Asia led to its establishment. During he Vietnam Era the United Stales was concerned with the Low kill ratio our tighter pilots were experiencing. It was Delorr Nind that a Lack of Aerial combat tactics training was Loa Large extent responsible said is i. Thorn Wallace of Safe s 7555lh tac training is. The unit responsible for running the Range. To resolve this problem inc service had to Over come three things the High Cost of raining missiles had to be blunted or eliminated without sacrificing inc Quality of raining. Missions needed to be recorded so that there would be no conflict in recall of training cd cols during Mission do Brittines. Thirdly we needed a program which would reduce risk to aircraft and aircrew during Aerial combat mane vering training Wallace said. Before the first Ami system became operational in 1971 Al Yurina. Ari. Training fighter aircrews was costly dangerous and less effective. Today there Are 12 operational a i ranges throughout i he world. The Decimo Mannu Range be came operational in september 1979 and is the Only one dedicated to l Safe Wallace said. The Range Al Decimo Mannu an italian base 16 Miles North of the Island s capital of Cagliari operates under an agreement among Lily. West Germany the United slates and Britain. The Range also is used by belgian dutch. French Swiss danish and Canadian air forces last year the Ami Range recorded 11,942 sorties during the Calendar year the most Ever flown on such a Range in a single year Wallace said. While in average training sortie lasts Only about 25 minutes Range officers quickly set up new combat scenarios to make the most of combatants time aloft. When aircraft Are killed icy drop out of play for Only a Short time until assigned new roles to play. Until last May Safe s aggressor Squadron from Raf Alconbury England came regularly to de Cim Mannu to Fly against Allied pilots and to Cadi Ihm soviet air tactics the Squadron is expected to return to Sardinia sometime next car after ils conver Jan Ostyn Tki works in the pod instruments carried by planes that Muki Battle simulators work. Sion from f-5 to Al 6 fighters Wallace said. Display boards Al the tracking station employ com Puter graphic wizards to provide info nation to Range training officers and observers on flight dynamics weapons system status and firing fall aircraft engaged in training missions All in real Lime. All data arc recorded so that a thorough and accurate review can be conducted by the air Crews after the Mission the debrief Are in remely valuable for the pilots Wallace said. It s Ull on tape m no one can lie about anything that went in up there. I idols can Walch the taped engagements As often As they like learn front their mistakes and go right Baek up again to car real  what makes the whole system work is a Gizmo called an aircraft instrumentation subsystem pod. The pod about the Sie of a sidewinder missile is mounted externally on Mosi planes or As is the ease with Fiss. Carried internally said Jack Mcnelly the Range supervisor and an employee of cubic corp., which built and operates the ranges. The pod is the Only portion of the system carried by the aircraft. Mcnally a retired Marine fighter Pilot said it provides aircraft Alli Lude. Velocity and weapons data to the ground stations. While inc base s importance has leaped in recent years Decimo Mannu has been used for air combat training for More than three decades in the Early 1950s, . And Allied forces in Europe realized the need for increased air to air and air to ground combat training. A site was sought in a sparsely populated area where inc weather was favourable All year and where a combat mane vering Range could be built Italy offered an Ideal location while tic United Stales manages the Range  sends up More than half of the training so tics the us . Service members Al the base account for a Small percentage of he 2.500 Active duty personnel. Italian British and German military personnel make up the bulk of the base population. The american Community numbers roughly 75 fam Ilies with 225 family members. Although he 7555th tac training 84 reports directly to 16lh air Force Al Torr Jon and Spain much of the unit s support and personnel arc supplied by Avilino All in Northern Italy. Only 16 air Force members stationed a i Pedmo Mannu live on base. The rest live in rental quartets in a Host of Small communities Many of them resorts on the Island s wonderful caches. Some people think Ducci is in Sicily others know it s Here Nul not Many people know what goes on Here said l. Col. Louis j. Amini Rati the 7555th s Deputy commander. We re a Busy Letite