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Leeuwarden April 2013
Peter Kooijman
visits Leeuwarden airbase for Frisian Flag 2013
Pictures by the
author
Frisian Flag, one of the largest international fighter aircraft
exercises, took place from 15 to 26 April.
Leeuwarden Air Base, again,
was host. Fighter pilots from different countries qualify themselves for
2 weeks in offensive and defensive missions.
The focus of Frisian Flag
2013 was on international cooperation.
It involved not only to the use of air weapons, but also the cooperation
between international battle management and air traffic control.
Training in an international spectrum is necessary in air defense
missions such as in Afghanistan and over Libya.
Both in the air and in planning the various participating countries
worked closely together. The training scenarios were realistic.
Experiences in Afghanistan and over Libya were extensively trained such
as supporting ground troops and searching for roadside bombs in like in
Afghanistan.
More than 55 aircraft flew about 45
missions twice a day. In addition to the F-16s of Leeuwarden and Volkel
air base there were also Belgian and Polish Air Force F-16s present,
Germans Eurofighters and Swedish JAS-39 Gripens. After several years of
absence, the French entered Frisian Flag again with Mirage 2000C's and
Mirage F1CR's.
The Dutch (K)DC-10 acted as a refuelling aircraft during
Frisian Flag and a NATO AWACS radar aircraft of NATO was also present in
the air, both operated from their home bases.
Frisian Flag was set in the skies of
Denmark, Germany and Netherlands. This requires close cooperation
between airspace control authorities of this country trio.
New was the
participation of the German mobile Control and Reporting Centre (CRC)
that takes the battle command throughout the training area on his
behalf. In previous editions of Frisian Flag accompanied both the Dutch
combat leaders (of the Air Operations Control Station (AOCS)
Nieuw-Milligen) as the German fighter leaders from their own country's
various missions.
From the CRC German and Dutch combat leaders performed
the whole battle command for the first time from Leeuwarden. Air Defense
is designed to stop enemy aircraft but also for offensive missions to
protect other aircraft, such as air transport- or AWACS aircraft. All
this was covered during Frisian Flag 2013.
Although the average flight takes only 1.5 hours each mission
requires a long preparation. Afterwards follows a comprehensive analysis
of the training flights.
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