Canadian Forces lieutenant, Ottawa native, serves as AWACS air weapons officer in overseas

Canadian Forces lieutenant, Ottawa native, serves as AWACS air weapons officer in overseas combat zone

Canadian Forces Lt. Will Natynczyk stands near an E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft at a non-disclosed base in Southwest Asia on Jan. 28, 2010. Lieutenant Natynczyk is one of five Canadian Forces members deployed with the 965th Expeditionary Airborne Air Control Squadron. The six-and-a-half-year Canadian Forces veteran is an air weapons officer for the E-3 Sentry. The lieutenant is deployed from Tinker Air Force Base, Okla., and his hometown is Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. (U.S. Air Force Photo/Master Sgt. Scott T. Sturkol/Released)

Canadian Forces lieutenant, Ottawa native, serves as AWACS air weapons officer in overseas combat zone

Published Feb. 9, 2010
By Master Sgt. Scott T. Sturkol
380th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

SOUTHWEST ASIA -- A six-and-a-half-year veteran of the Canadian Forces does a job very few citizens of any country say they can do - serve as an air weapons officer for an E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft. Lt. Will Natynczyk, however, is one of the chosen few and he's doing it while supporting deployed operations overseas.

Lieutenant Natynczyk is deployed with the 965th Expeditionary Airborne Air Control Squadron as an air weapons officer at a non-disclosed base in Southwest Asia. The Canadian Forces member is deployed from the 965th AACS at Tinker Air Force Base, Okla., where he and nearly 50 other Canadian Forces members serve as co-manners as part of the North American Aerospace Defense Command agreement. For the past several years, Canadian Airmen like Lieutenant Natynczyk have been able to deploy with units from Tinker's 552nd Air Control Wing.

As an air weapons officer, Lieutenant Natynczyk works with the senior director (senior weapons officer) in the weapons section of the E-3 Sentry with other air weapons officers controlling aircraft. From there, the air weapons officers provide a "broad spectrum picture" to air operations. The E-3 mission platform, according to its Air Force fact sheet, provides situational awareness of friendly, neutral and hostile activity, command and control of an area of responsibility, battle management of theater forces, all-altitude and all-weather surveillance of the battle space, and early warning of enemy actions during joint, allied and coalition operations.

Major subsystems in the E-3 are avionics, navigation, communications, sensors (radar and passive detection) and identification tools, the fact sheet also shows. The mission suite includes consoles that display computer-processed data in graphic and tabular format on video screens. Mission crew members like Lieutenant Natynczyk perform surveillance, identification, weapons control, battle management and communications functions.

"We're the ones who essentially control the aircraft," said Lieutenant Natynczyk, whose hometown is Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. "It's myself and four other weapons officers who do the micro-managing of the aircraft."

Before becoming an air weapons officer, the lieutenant served as a Canadian Forces infantry officer. In becoming an air weapons officer, he said he "kind of fell into it."

"When I was in the infantry before, I had a knee injury so I was offered this field," Lieutenant Natynczyk said. "It's been pretty good. I get to travel, which is what I was kind of looking for along with a little bit of adventure. Yeah I didn't choose it -- it kind of chose me, but it's been a great job."

In joining the Canadian Forces, Lieutenant Natynczyk said he decided on a military career about half-way through his senior year in high school.

"It was then I decided that I wanted to be in the military because I had to do something with my life in the next three or four months," Lieutenant Natynczyk said. "Additionally, my uncle is in the military so I had some family connections to it. Mostly, I wanted to do something different -- and this is different -- especially when I get to deploy."

Lieutenant Natynczyk said he is also enjoying his tour serving with U.S. Airmen both back in the United States and while deployed. "Well the Americans are great," he said. "I have some really good friends who will be friends forever."

The 965th EAACS is an attached unit of the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing. The 380th AEW is comprised of four groups and 12 squadrons and the wing's deployed mission includes air refueling, surveillance and reconnaissance in support of overseas contingency operations in Southwest Asia.