7 Air Forces under Blue Flag 2017

“Building coalitions, sharing knowledge”

An Israeli F-16I taxis past the flags of all the Blue Flag participants

The third edition of the biennial Blue Flag exercise took place between 2 and 16 November 2017 at Ovda Air Base, in southern Israel. The airbase, established in 1982, is perfectly suitable for large-scale exercises with close proximity to various ranges, low-level flying areas and ability to simulate Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) threats. The airport is a shared civilian/military airport, but for the two-week exercise all civilian airlines traffic was cancelled. Blue Flag 2017 is the largest international aviation exercise the Israeli Air Force has hosted to date, with over 100 aircraft and 1,000 personnel from eight countries, the organisation took over a year with a large conference during June 2017 to finalise preparations. The exercise is held across the entire southern part of Israel.

Greek F-16 taxiing out at Ovda

During the missions the airspace is unlimited available for the participants with no limitations in altitude or speed. Flying operations are conducted with two missions a day (Sunday-Thursday) by the Blue Forces. Three night missions were also planned. On average a mission takes 60-90 minutes. The exercise has a similar set up as the annual Iniohos exercise hosted by Greece and Anatolian Eagle held in Turkey.

The Blue Flag Air Forces involved the following countries: the United States (USAFE), Poland, Italy, Greece, India, France and Germany. Blue Flag is composed of two stages. The first stage, during the first week, allows the air forces to acclimatise themselves to the environment – and each other. The following week, the participants rehearse complex scenarios and coalition flights. During some of the sorties, the participants flew against the ‘Flying Dragon’ Squadron which simulated enemy forces, SAM batteries and MANPADS (Manportable air-defence systems). The various exercise days are split into familiarisation flights, warm up, Defence Counter Air (DGA), Blue versus Blue (BVB), Small Force Exercise (SFE) and concluded by a Large Force Exercise (LFE), the most complex scenario of Blue Flag. Participating aircrews execute one sortie per day.

While most large-scale military exercises are conducted with a real or fictional enemy in mind, an international exercise like Blue Flag does not have these scenarios. In Blue Flag these are of a more generic nature with Air-to-Air battles, strike missions, defensive counter air exercises, suppression of enemy air defence operations (SEAD), electronic warfare and low-level commando missions in which the Indian Air Force’s Garud Commando unit played a role together with Israeli Special Forces.

Ovda airbase is home to 115 Squadron ‘The Flying Dragon’s’ which transitioned to the F-16C ‘Barak’ during April 2017, having previously operated the F-16A ‘Netz’. The squadron operates as Aggressor unit to the participants of the Blue Force. The exercise is frequently compared with the USAF’s Red Flag exercises held each year in the Nevada desert at Nellis Air Force Base. As in Red Flag, the participating units are split into ‘red’ and ‘blue’ teams, which then conduct simulated air battles.

The Falcon Land versus Nowhere Land war is the centrepiece of Blue Flag in which the fictional Falcon Land is made up of the seven foreign countries India, Germany, France, Italy, Poland, Greece and the United States and Israeli Air Force squadrons. Their opponent, Nowhere Land, is led by the Israeli Air Force’s 115 Squadron, which is specifically used in exercises to mimic enemy aircraft.

During the Blue Flag Media Day Israeli Air Force officials stated the objective of the exercise was three-fold: strengthen diplomatic relations between the countries, expose the participating militaries to new tactics and techniques and improve military cooperation by forcing the air forces to work together.

The German Luftwaffe made its first appearance at Blue Flag 2017

“The first edition of the Blue Flag exercise took place in 2013 with four countries and has now grown being Israel’s largest exercise and has also a number of firsts in the 2017 edition. The Indian, German and French Air Forces are all here for the first time, with Poland, Greece, Italy and the United States have all participated in previous editions,” said Ops Support Unit Commander, identified only as Lt Col ‘P’. “Success factors for us are to be able to operate from one airbase, plan and debrief together and have a centralised exercise management, both base ops and exercise ops. Main challenge we encounter is the various levels of English language skills of participants.”

A USAFE (US Air Forces in Europe) F-16C with AN/ALQ-131 ECM pod takes off from Ovda

The operational and logistical challengesof such an exercise are unprecedented for the Israelis hosting 35 aircraft from seven different countries, at its most southern airbase, along with another 26 aircraft of five different Israeli squadrons from other bases. Ovda is the Israeli only base dedicated mainly to training, rather than hosting operational squadrons, and is used to having aircrews and maintenance teams of other squadrons visiting. However, as one of the commanders of the exercise explained, “I can’t fly the international crew’s home for the night or put them up at the relatively Spartan facilities on base. We want them to go home with a positive experience on all fronts.” Most of the 700 foreign personnel in the exercise are therefore being hosted for the two weeks of Blue Flag in hotels in nearby Eilat.

The Indian Air Force sent a C-130J Super Hercules aircraft along with a group of ‘Garud’ commandos who trained for a week with the Israeli Air Force’s elite units out of Nevatim airbase with additional activities at Palmahim and Tel Nof. The Israeli Special Forces consisted of Unit 5101 (Shaldag Commando) and Unit 669 (Airborne Rescue and Evacuation). The latter was initially mandated to extract and provide medical treatment to downed pilots beyond enemy lines. However, in later years the unit also participated in extraction of soldiers of other arms of the IDF.The role of the Garud Commando Force matches closely with the task assigned to the two special units of the Israeli Air Force. The Indian C-130J and Garud Commandos joined the exercise during the second week of Blue Flag. Supporting the Indian C-130J and Special Forces was Israel’s 103 Squadron (‘The Elephants’), which operates the C-130J locally designated ‘Shimshon’.

An Israeli Air Force 115 Squadron ‘First Jet Squadron’ F-16C powering out of Ovda

The first-ever visit of the German Air Force to Israel was not the only historic event during Blue Flag 2017, the exercise also saw the return of French fighters in this particular case the Mirage 2000Ds, based out of Nancy Air Base in eastern France. The last time dates back to 1956, when, as part of the Suez campaign, French squadrons deployed to Israeli airbases.

The Patriot air defence system was also deployed for the first time during this exercise. The battery, which is normally stationed near Dimona, provided surface-to-air cover for Nowhere Land, and according to its Commander has been very successful. “Everything we were allowed to target we have been able to knock down,” he said. The main opposition for the Patriots were Italian Air Force Tornado strike fighters as part of Falcon Land forces.

The Israeli Air Force participated with four squadrons equipped with F-16C/D ‘Barak’, F-16I ‘Sufa’ and F-15 ‘Baz’ aircraft. The F-16I ‘Sufa’, is based on the F-16D albeit heavily modified with Israeli-designed systems. Clearly visible differences are Conformal Fuel Tanks (CFTs) and larger 600-gallon underwing fuel tanks, giving it an extended range, equal to the F-15I ‘Ra’am’. Heart of the weapon system is the AGP-68(V) radar, which has a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) mode, enabling the tracking of ground targets day and night, in any type of weather. It has an Elta satellite communication system for long-range communication inside the enlarged spine, next to an advanced electronic warfare system developed in Israel. Between 2004 and 2009, 102 F-16Is were delivered to the IDF.

An Israeli F-15D ‘Baz’ with mission markings under the canopy, conformal tanks and SATCOM dome behind the cockpit all clearly visible

Early 2009 the IDF decided to start with the upgrade of the F-16C/D fleet to the ‘Barak 2020’ standard. Upgrades give almost the same level of avionics equipment as that of the latest F-16I ‘Sufa’ in service. The modernisation came through after a long test period with the new upgrade suite being installed on a test F-16D ‘Brakeet’ (Thunderbolt). The upgrades boost interoperability and facilitate integration of new weapons packages between its fleet of approximately 124 F-16C/D’s and 101 F-16I’s. Under ‘Peace Marble II’, the IDF was supplied with 75 F-16C/D’s (block 30), the first F-16C which arrived in October 1987 and the first F-16D was received on December 21, 1987. Following the cancellation of the locally designed ‘ Lavi’ fighter project in May of 1988, a follow-on order was placed under ‘Peace Marble III’ agreement for 60 F-16C/D block 40 aircraft (30 F-16Cs, 30 F-16Ds), plus an option for another 15 aircraft. The first of these jets arriving back in August 1991. With the 2020 upgrade programme the F-16C/D ‘Barak’ is expected to remain in service till around 2030. Currently the IDF is the largest operator of the F-16 besides the US Air Force. The F-15 ‘Baz’ platform has been in service since the mid-1970s. Currently about twenty-five F-15 ‘Baz’ of various versions (A/B/C/D) are in use with the IDF, in addition to the F-15I ‘Ra’am’, which is a version of the F-15E Strike Eagle developed especially for Israel.

Israel received the first of its initial order for two single seat F-15As and two, two seat F-15Bs in 1976 under the Peace Fox foreign military sales programme. These aircraft were largely used as test, training and evaluation planes so that the Israeli Air Force could prepare for its full order to arrive. Another 19 F-15As and two F-15Bs were delivered by 1978, entering active service with 133 Squadron at Tel Nof airbase.

During the early 1980s, the Israeli Air Force received the improved F-15C/D Baz. Eighteen F-15Cs and eight F-15Ds were delivered during the 1982-1983 timeframe. These new jets were more capable than their predecessors in almost every respect, although their airframe remained visually nearly identical to the older A/B models. These F-15C/Ds were in no way replacements for the IAF’s older A/B models, instead they were meant to augment the battle proven ‘Baz’. Over the years the ‘Baz’ fleet has been upgraded to local requirements. Installed have been GPS guided weaponry (JDAM) which allows to work as pinpoint, all weather, fixed target strikers without having to rely on optically guided weaponry. The ‘Baz’ can also still work as standoff weapons. In addition, the Baz’s speed, range and stability made it an ideal platform for tactical reconnaissance.

As the ‘Baz’ has similar range as the ‘Ra’am and ‘Sufa’ it can work as a forward deployed networking and command and control node, absorbing the battle picture via data-link from fighters within its line of sight and then send this information up to a satellite, which then beams it back down to Israeli commanders hundreds, or even thousands of miles away. This can also go in the opposite direction, with new orders, alerts of pop-up air defences, and other updates being sent from behind friendly lines or from orbiting strategic intelligence aircraft to the F-15B/D ‘Baz’. From here, the ‘Baz’ can disperse this information to the rest of the nonsatellite communications equipped strike package. This high bandwidth satellite communications modification can be seen on F-15B/Ds packing a large bulbous satellite communications dome just behind the environmental cooling system vent, located on the jet’s forward spine.

Pair of heavily-laden F-16Is readying for a sortie

During 8 November two F-35I ‘Adir’ were delivered to Nevatim Air Base. The two aircraft will join the seven fighters that landed in Israel over the past year and are the latest addition to the 140th Squadron (‘Golden Eagle’). With nine ‘Adir’ aircraft in Israel, the platform will soon undergo an initial fitness inspection. The first two ‘Adir’ landed in Israel about a year ago, and seven additional aircraft have arrived. Throughout the past year the fighter underwent a series of tests and experiments in which the Israeli AF learned to operate the new platform, including live firing and aerial refueling. During December 2017 the squadron underwent a fitness inspection in which the F-35I capabilities and readiness were validated. It is expected the F-35I will participate in the next edition of Blue Flag.

Participants at Blue Flag 2017