Air Commodore Alistair Monkman - Director Air Ops ISAF Joint Command

Responsible for the theatre level employment of airpower ranging from Close Air Support, Rotary, Air Lift, ISTAR and EW, Air Commodore Monkman has a large train set to play with. He has to take all those air assets and plug them to the priorities of operations. His number one priority though is ensuring that any Troops in Contact (TIC) are supported “usually within 12-15 minutes”, he quotes. “Never before have land troops been so supported; we are setting a new benchmark”.

He is keen to stress however, that our mission in Afghanistan is that of counter-insurgency. This means we are here to protect the Afghan people, be it from insurgents, natural disaster and prevention of civil casualties. To this end, Air Commodore Monkman was one of the key pioneers of the “Could I, Should I, Would I” debate. The tenet of this debate is for airmen to think carefully before any engagement that might be kinetic and with any possibility of endangering civilians. Furthermore, he has seen that when a TIC is supported by air that 85% of incidents do not go kinetic; thus one of the main aspects of the air role is to act as a deterrent.

Recently, air ops provided support to humanitarian aid when the Salang Pass Avalanche trapped some 2,500 people. ISAF helicopters provided lift and Afghan National Air Corps air support was also involved. One of Air Commodore Monkman’s watching briefs is to support and monitor the development of Afghan air power.

“The Afghans are increasing their capacity. The have some good kit, good training programmes and they are growing their Air Transport Fleet. Our focus has to be on security, development and governance and we tie into the Afghan system in everything we do”.

Editor: Sqn Ldr S N Moore.

Photography: Corporal Dave Blackburn RAF