Upon arrival, Robles has held a meeting with the commanders who have informed him of the characteristics of the F-18, the missions and tasks of the aircraft, weapons and technical capabilities.
Subsequently, the head of Defense has moved to the building of the F-18 simulator, where he has been able to see the facilities and equipment where the officers who pilot these fighter planes are trained.
The simulator cabin of the F-18 consists of four digitized screens. On the central or main screen you can see a map with the situation of the plane and the location of other planes that may be flying; the other side screens contain information on the armament and radar systems, and the upper center screen offers information on navigation and communications equipment.
Pilot training is essential. Upon arrival at Ala 12, from the initial training period that takes place at the Talavera la Real Base, the pilots move to the Zaragoza Air Base, where the two-seater F-18 airplanes are located and there they will make a phase of Basic training of about 7 months. From the Zaragoza Base, the pilots will leave with the F-18 weapons systems specialty and will join ALA 12, where they will begin to make the three ratings CR1, CR2 and CR3; To do this, they are assigned an instructor, who will be in charge of monitoring each one and will be passing them until they reach sufficient preparation to enable them to be fully operational pilots of ALA 12.
In her meeting with the pilots and the staff of ALA 12, the minister thanked them for their "dedication and commitment to continue working in this Unit, with the generosity and dedication with which they do it every day of the year." And he reminded them that the Air Force is an "army with a lot of future."
During the visit, the acting Minister of Defense has been accompanied by the Secretary of State for Defense, Angel Olivares.
WING 12
Ministry of DefenceWing 12 was created in 1958. In 1989 it received its first F-18 fighter planes.
It basically has two types of missions:
The first is to provide airplanes and crews to cover the Programmed Alarm Service (QRA) in the number of airplanes and prevention status determined by your command. This service, which is operational 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, provides armed aircraft and ready to take off in a few minutes to be used to intercept, identify and intervene aircraft in flight, executing air police missions order.
The second mission of Wing 12 is to provide elements of force, in this case airplanes and crews, which must be prepared to be assigned to the operations that the Air Combat Command (MACOM) determine whether they are for the benefit of international national operations, operating in this case under the protection of NATO or the coalition that is configured for each crisis.
In order to accomplish both missions, Wing 12 has about 450 people, accounting for flight, support and administration personnel, and which are distributed to officers, non-commissioned officers, troop personnel and civilian personnel.