Police versus RAAF

[Gary Smith]

For those not too familiar with Australia, this story, supposedly true, relates to the New South Wales Police Department Highway Patrol, Newcastle, a large city approx. 100 miles to the North of Sydney with a population of about 370,000, and home to one of the Royal Australian Air Force FA-18 squadrons based at RAAF Base Williamtown.

Now read on ...........

Two Hunter traffic patrol officers from Newcastle LAC (Local Area Command) were involved in an unusual incident while checking for speeding motorists on the F3 Freeway. One of the officers used a hand-held radar device to check the speed of a vehicle approaching over the crest of a hill, and was surprised when the speed was recorded at over 800Kph. Their radar suddenly stopped working and the officers were not able to reset it.

Just then a deafening roar over the treetops revealed that the radar had in fact latched on to an RAAF Williamtown FA-18 fighter jet which was engaged in a low-flying exercise over the Wyong area, and approaching from the ocean.

Back at police headquarters the Local Area Commander fired off a stiff complaint to the RAAF Liaison Officer at RAAF Williamtown.

Back came the reply in true laconic RAAF style:

'Thank you for your message, which allows us to complete the file on this incident. You may be interested to know that the tactical computer in the Hornet had detected the presence of, and subsequently locked on to your hostile radar equipment and automatically sent a jamming signal back to it. Furthermore, an air-to-ground missile aboard the fully-armed aircraft had also automatically locked onto your equipment.

Fortunately the pilot flying the Hornet recognised the situation for what it was, quickly responded to the missile systems alert status, and was able to override the automated defence system before the missile was launched and your hostile radar installation was destroyed.

Thank you for your inquiry.

Regards,
Gary.