Israel, Blue Flag 2019 exercise: the Air Force deploys the F-35s, the Eurofighters and the CAEW

The international Blue Flag exercise 2019 ended yesterday, November 14, 2019, which began Tuesday, November 2, 2019 on the Ovda air base in Israel, the largest and most complex military exercise in the Middle East. For the first time in its history, there are 5th generation stealth assets.

Established in 2013 following the exclusion of the Israeli Air Force from the Anatolian Eagle and now in its 4th edition, it represents one of the most important and complete exercises of the international aeronautical panorama. This is a complex military exercise that saw its participants in addition to Israel, the United States, Greece, Germany and Italy with a total deployment of about 70 aircraft and over 1000 men who measured themselves in missions training within highly complex, elaborate and realistic operating theaters.

The basic program included a wide range of combined air operations, with varying levels of increasing difficulty, ranging from air-to-air duel, to air-to-ground attacks and airspace patrols. The purpose: simulate increasingly extreme and difficult combat scenarios and jointly train the air forces of the various nations with the greatest possible fidelity. The scenarios have therefore included large formations of aircraft, including fighter jets, APR (remotely piloted air vehicles), transport aircraft and helicopters that have mainly conducted "COMposite Air Operation" (COMAO) missions that have planned flight activities to low and very low (BBQ) operating level. Several tactics and evasive maneuvers against Surface Air Missile (SAM) systems were also tested, which involved the use of different countermeasures such as chaffs and flares. Furthermore, the integration between 4th and 5th generation structures of different nationalities was also pursued in complex mission scenarios.

The 2019 edition, already full of surprises, will be destined to become part of history from this year. For the first time, the F-35 Israeli and Italian Fifth Stealth Fighters hosted the exercise, the latter having recently returned from the NATO Wing Northern Lightning mission in Iceland. For 15 days four F-35A of the 13th Air Force Group they worked closely with the F-35I Adir of the Israeli Air Force, the hosts, also at their first Blue Flag despite having already been successfully employed by Tel Aviv in various military operations. The two nations were able to work together, exchanging experiences and information, allowing them to take a step forward in using the new aircraft, also seeing how each part does things differently by optimizing the use of the aircraft's capabilities. The Blue Flag has also tested the Ovda air base, which is now able to accommodate future redevelopment of Israeli F-35s or other partner nations.

The guidance and control of airspace in addition to all the activities of electronic war will be entrusted to the Israeli Gulfstream G550, this year supported by a CAEW of the Italian Air Force. To ensure the safety of the participants, the entire airspace that goes from south of Jerusalem to the air base has been banned from civilian air traffic. The borders with the neighboring countries also closed. To the remaining military air traffic excluded from the maneuvers, it has been granted however the overflight of the areas interested by the exercise limitedly to the periods of time in which are not present activity of flight.

THE'Italy since 2013 has participated in all the Blue Flag editions. In the last edition, the Italian Air Force redeployed 4 Tornado aircraft in IDS version for ground attack and 2 ECR for the suppression of air defenses, together with 80 men among pilots, navigators and technical-logistic support staff. Out of a total of over 800 missions 58 sorties were carried out, successfully testing a large scale of evasive techniques against SAM missiles, low and very low altitude flights and the use of electromagnetic countermeasures.

The German Luftwaffe intervened with six Eurofighter Typhoons, the Hellenic Air Force and the US Air Force with 4 and 12 F-16 Fighting Falcons respectively. Israel in addition to the already mentioned F-35I "Adir" of the 140th ("Golden Eagle") Squadron, has also fielded the F-15 "Baz" and the F-16I "Sufa". Italy has sent four F-35A Lighning IIs, four Eurofighter Typhoons and one Gulfstream G-550 CAEW, as well as various supports such as C-130J Hercules and suppliers in flight 767. The F-35s have re-deployed in a very short time of time, directly from Iceland (where they worked at NATO's service to protect the airspace of the Atlantic Alliance) thanks to the high level of professionalism reached by the maintenance team and the effectiveness of the logistics component.

The Ovda air base represents today one of the main bases used by theIsraeli Air Force as well as the most suitable for performing this type of exercises. It is equipped with underground hangars, modern infrastructures and large spaces created specifically to accommodate a large number of aircraft. Inside it is present besides an advanced training center, also the headquarters of the 115 Squadron Flying Dragon (or Red Squadron) equipped with F-16C / D; a group trained to simulate with absolute realism the flight and combat tactics employed by the most notorious "aggressors" aircraft.

The Blue Flag today represents the flagship of the Israeli Air Force thanks to its extreme complexity, the choice of participants is very rigorous and the preparations are always undertaken at least 1 year in advance. The primary purpose proposed by Israel is to be able to create a coalition ready to carry out joint air combat missions, implementing the capacities of each of the participating nations to face future hostile threats. This cooperation between the four participating countries, with Israel, lays the groundwork for many future opportunities.

Text: Simone Ferrante
Images: Israeli Air Force