-: I am Master Corporal Ian Boughton from London, Ontario,
and I'm an Airborne Electronic Sensor Operator.
-: Airborne Electronic Sensor Operator, or an AESOP,
We fly on the Aurora and Cyclone aircraft
and operate whole hosts of different mission systems
and sensors ranging from radar, sonar, sonobouys,
electro optic cameras,
-: AESOP's, collect and relay critical surveillance
and reconnaissance information from their aircraft
to navy ships at sea and to troops on the ground.
This could be in a naval task force conducting
anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare,
counter-drug operations, and fishery
and sovereignty patrols,
or in a collaboration with the Army,
gathering information on targets and enemy forces.
-: Here in Shearwater, I fly on the CH 148
Cyclone helicopter.
It's a multi-mission helicopter.
Its primary job is anti-submarine warfare, ASW,
but it's also capable of a whole host
of other jobs ranging from search
and rescue utility missions, anything that we get tasked
with by the Navy or the Air Force.
There's also the Aurora in Greenwood
and Comox, the long range patrol aircraft.
They do sort of similar work to what we do on the Cyclone,
just there's a lot more of the AESOP's
on the Auroras.
-: The Aurora flies with a crew of 12 five
of whom are AESOP's while on the Cyclone there's one AESOP on a
crew of four. Airborne Electronic Sensor.
Operators need to extract the right information at the right
time from their sensors and deliver to the right people
clearly and concisely.
-: The critical intelligence they provide can save lives,
keep troops safe, and reduce collateral damage.
Other roles in this job include serving
as the door gunner on helicopters
and operating the aircraft's hoist.
As they perfect their skills.
AESOP's could be assigned
to work on missions in Northern Canada
and overseas operations with other nations,
or as part of the air detachment on maritime operations.
There are also AESOP's working on the sensors on Canada's new
Kingfisher search and rescue aircraft and on drones.
-: The coolest thing about being AESOP on the maritime helicopter
on the Cyclone is just the variety of the different missions
and tasks we get to do. While we're at sea deployed.
We're doing a lot of recognized maritime picture. Flying out,
seeing what's out there on the water.
But then we're also doing a lot
of our activities like hoisting,
the slinging, taking imagery,
so it really keeps things varied and interesting,
and just getting to travel too,
like getting to see the world.
That's definitely the most exciting part of this job for me.
Some of the highlights of my career
so far have definitely been the chance
to deploy last year in the Mediterranean.
Seeing some of the most impressive sites in the world,
like the Acropolis in Athens in Greece.
Going to some of the great cities in the world like
Barcelona, Sicily, just seeing great sites
and going out with my friends on the dets
and making some great memories.
That's definitely a highlight for me of this job.