|
Leeuwarden April 2014
Karo-Aviation
visits Leeuwarden airbase for Frisian Flag 2014
Article and Pictures by Ronald de
Roij
The Royal Netherlands Air Force hosted the Frisian Flag 2014 live air
exercise at its northern air base Leeuwarden from March 31 to April 11.
Around fifty aircraft from ten countries took part in the exercise at
Leeuwarden air base. The
Netherlands, Norway, Belgium, Portugal, and Denmark all deployed the
Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcons. The Netherlands assigned to the
exercise twelve aircraft, Norway six, Belgium and Portugal four each,
and Denmark two. The other types of fighter aircraft taking part in the
exercise where six Finnish F/A-18s Hornets and eight German and four Spanish Eurofighter Typhoons.
These fighter aircraft where supported by tankers
and transports from the Netherlands, Norway, United Kingdom, Germany,
and Italy, and airborne early warning and control platforms of NATO.
Most exercise missions was flown over the North Sea where training areas
extend over Dutch, Danish, and German airspace.
The overarching objective of Frisian Flag 2014 is to practise
large-force fighter operations in complex scenarios. All relevant facets
including planning, execution, and reporting are included in the
exercise program. The missions that where flown during Frisian Flag 2014
include air defence missions, offensive missions, missions to protect
other aircraft (e.g. air transport, AWACS or other aircraft that do not
have self-protection equipment) and the elimination of static and
dynamic targets on the ground or at sea.
During FWIT2014 Eindhoven Air Base
hosted the first European Air-to-Air Refuelling training ever. The EART
2014 (European Air-to-Air Refuelling Training 2014) took place over
Dutch skies from 28 March to 11 April 2014.
Chosen as Forward Operational Base (FOB) for the parallel running
Frisian Flag exercise, Eindhoven Air Base provided the effective
training environment also for a tanker training event. Eindhoven Air
Base is more known as air transport hub for the Dutch 334th and 336th
squadron that prepare tactical and strategic air transport with KDC-10
and C-130 Hercules.
During the exercise a German and an Italian tanker joined the Dutch
aircraft at Eindhoven for the first European Air-to-Air Refuelling
training .
Apart from the air manoeuvres, this
exercise shows the cooperation between the various tactical air commands
and tactical air control agencies. “Carrying out such exercises in an
international spectrum is necessary in order to ensure sustainment of
effective execution of our air defence tasks and missions as in
Afghanistan and over Libya.
Although the average flight takes only 1.5 hours each mission
requires a long preparation. Afterwards follows a comprehensive analysis
of the training flights.
|
