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Article and Pictures by Ronald de
Roij and Rolph Klijn
This January Fliegerstaffel 18 flying with the F/A-18 Hornet and Fliegerstaffel 19 flying with the F-5E Tiger II, held their annual Wiederholungskurs (Refresher Course) at Sion air base as always this
exercise in January coincides whit the WEF at Davos.
This year the Swiss government's obligation to ensure adequate security
was not only for the WEF but also for the Syria peace conference. So the
Federal Council established two separate "restricted-fly zones" within a
25-nautical-mile (46.3-kilometre) radius of Montreux and Davos, for the
respective venues of these events. The Davos zone was maintained between
20 and 26 January, and the Montreux zone was in operation from 21 to 24
January.
The World Economic Forum and the Syria peace conference brought together
over 2000 business leaders, political leaders, intellectuals and
journalists to discuss some of the most urgent issues facing the world.
As a result of this concentration of VIP's in one location, security is
a top priority and the Swiss Air Force assigned both F-5's and F-18's to
the protection mission, so during the days the conference's where in in session
not only do you have normal flights of the Wiederholungskurs but also Combat Air Patrol
(CAP) flights flown with live weapons
To enforce this regulation the Air Force deployed the F/A-18 Hornet and F-5
Tiger for the higher air space and rapid intercept as well as the
Pilatus PC-7 in the lower air space. Due to the geographical proximity a
close co-operation with the Austrian Air Force is maintained for the
WEF, since the restrictions affect also the territory of the eastern
neighbouring country in which the Austrian Air Force participated in
their yearly exercise Daedalus. See our report on the
2012 Daedalus
exercise at Zeltweg for a impression of this exercise.
Next to fighter element of the exercise the air force provided air
transport by using the Super
Puma, Cougar and EC635 helicopters. These are primarily used for the
transportations of passengers. The super Puma is used also as a carrier
of a thermal image camera for controlling the direct surroundings of the
events.
Training started at Sion the
week before both events. The F/A-18 Hornet and F-5E Tiger flew from 08:00-18:00
daily as well as Thursday night when night training continued to 22:00.
During both security events flights started at 08:00 and lasted until late in
the day or evening according to the conference schedule. Some flights
where made from Payerne due to the weather conditions at Sion.
While
regular training flights for the annual Wiederholungskurs are stopped
over the lunch hour and at night. The air force keeps pilots and planes
ready to go if needed, in case of an emergency on a 24 hour base during
the events, so flights could occur at any time of the day and night.
Most air security incidents during the annual WEF meeting usually
involve unprepared or stubborn pilots who ignore the ban entering the
closed airspace without permission and are then escorted out to and
pilots often end up being fined for the offence.
The 'after dark' missions were flown by the F-18's because the F-5 is
not suited for that mission. Viewing and photographing can be done from
the airport terrace, however around 10:00 o'clock the sun lifts above
the mountains backlighting the airplanes on the runway. Luckily there
plenty spots on around the base giving ample opportunity to switch
backgrounds.
In its latest restructuring plan the Swiss armed forces have announced
they want to shut down around a third of their infrastructure, including
the following airbase’s Sion, the mothballed airfield in Buochs, while
Dübendorf only be used as a helicopter base in the future.
The activities from Sion will probably move to Payerne leaving Sion with
only civil aviation. The exact timeline for the closure of Sion airbase
is not known yet, but this may has not been the last time for the Wiederholungskurs at this photo genetic base.
Next
year if everything go’s to plan Meiringen is the base to go. Unlike Sion
the sun will not come in to the valley. But opportunities are very good
at Meiringen because excess to the base is much better. For a full
report on the previous exercise at Meiringen have look at the report of the Wiederholungskurs at
Meiringen in 2008 and Sion will be
on the schedule again in 2016.
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