Clear skies, a summer breeze and a beautiful, calm ocean made for a perfect day - perfect for launching missiles that is. That’s just what a VAQ-142 Gray Wolf Prowler, along with other participants from Carrier Air Wing Fourteen and VAQ-133, had the chance to do during their latest High Speed Anti-Radiation Missile (HARM) firing exercise held down at NAS Pt Mugu, California. The Gray Wolves honed their weapons skills targeting a transmitter placed atop a lone barge placed fifty miles off the California coast.

The successful loading and firing of a HARM was a great training experience for the new aircrew in the command and for the personnel working in the Ordnance Shop. “We may one day find ourselves having to do the same thing in a real combat situation. Getting the “X” made the HARM shoot a success,” ATC Randy McClain said. 

Watching a HARM launch from your Prowler was an exciting moment, but one that’s over in a split-second.  However, the successful completion of the exercise was the culmination of several weeks of planning and training by various Gray Wolf aircrew. 

One of the aircrew working on the shoot was LT Mike Beard. “The HARM shoot was a great opportunity. It’s not every day that you get to spend a half a million dollars,” he commented. “But if they’re going to entrust you with something like that, you had better do it right.”

The Gray Wolf pilot who ultimately squeezed the trigger, Lt. Seth Carlone-Hanson, was more than happy to fire his first live missile. “It was an impressive display of coordination to get four squadrons, with different types of aircraft, on the same page and to get these missiles on target, on time,” Carlone-Hanson said. “Ultimately, it was pretty cool just to pickle one off.”

The Gray Wolves are back at home plate, but not for long. As with so many other squadrons, the Wolves have a lot on their plate this summer and will be participating in Red Flag from Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, at the end of August.