Exercise Iniochos 2019: Sound of freedom over the Peloponnese

The Iniochos 2019 Exercise was conducted at Andravida AB in the north west of Greece from 1 to 12 April 2019. Marked as the largest exercise in the Mediterranean area, Iniochos 2019 attracted several foreign countries to join the Elliniko Polemiki Aeroporia (Hellenic Air Force) in an exercise which was organised by the Air Tactics Centre at Andravida. This year’s edition witnessed the participation of air forces from Israel, United States, Italy and the United Arab Emirates. Apart from these countries, there were other nations such as Canada, France, Germany, Jordan and Kazachstan who registered their presence as observers to the Iniochos 2019. 

The Iniochos exercise was held for the first time in the late 1980’s as a small scale tactical exercise.  The focus was to provide realistic training for defence personnel in planning and execution of Combined Air Operations ( CAMAO) in a realistic environment to test and evaluate operational plans and tactics.  Through the years, this concept became a success and the Hellenic Air Force made the decision to make this an annual event.

Exercise Iniochos 2019 was divided into four phases: Phase 1 (Exercise preparation 4-15 March), Phase 2 (Force Deployment 26-28 March), Phase 3 (Execution Phase 1-12 April) and Phase 4 which was Force Redeployment (on 12 April). All the missions of Iniochos 2019 were supervised by FWS, right from planning to debrief. Some of the missions flown were Air Operations versus Integrated Air Defence Systems; Reconnaissance missions; Combat Search and Rescue missions; Time Sensitive Target Missions; Dynamic Targeting / Strike Coordination and Reconnaissance / Close Air Support; High Value Airborne Asset / Protect – Attack; Slow Mover Protection; Offensive Counter Air / Airfield Attack; Air interdiction on special targets (bridges, power stations, vehicles) and Anti-Surface Warfare.

A large flying force was tasked to operate alongside maritime and land forces with naval and armed forces provided a full scale threat with the variety of hittable targets. During the exercise, the operations were carried out by using majority of the Athena FIR. The prime objectives of the 2019 exercise were to develop interoperability and standardisation between HAF units and allied nations air forces, to promote cooperation between the forces in planning the tactics, practice of several techniques and procedures during air-to-land and air-to-sea operations, the use of combination of classic and modern assets in a modern combat zone, prepare aircrews for the future theatre of war. 

The Accurate Shot/Event Assessment was also an important part of the exercise and it was achieved with the use of on-board and off-board tracking data, sensors and specialised debriefing software. All these devices were used to reconstruct the missions, under the experience of Fighter Weapons School instructors who supervised the debriefing process.  

Iniochos 2019 observed the participation from 77 fighter aircraft at Andravida and for the first time, exercise witnessed the participation from the 3rd, 4th and 5th generation fighter aircraft. Rather exceptional was the fact that aircraft from the two fighter squadrons at Araxos Air Base flew missions from their own airfield as a part for the exercise. More than a 1000 sorties were flown by the participants in nine operational days.  During the operational days, usually two missions took place, one in the morning and the second in the afternoon, there were few evening missions as well. Participants in the morning missions flew mostly above the Aegean Sea, and the afternoon participants flew above the mountain areas. The exercise included two air refuelling aircraft, one KC-135 from the USAF and one KC-707 from the Israeli Air Force. These two tankers were only used by Greek Air Force F-16s. 

The Israeli Air Force F-16s only participated during the first week of Iniochos and left Andravida on 5 April with the support of one C-130 and Boeing-707. The participating fleet of F-16s consist of 13 aircraft (six F-16Ds and seven F-16Cs), from these aircraft, two carried some kind of kill marking on the nose. Later on, Israeli crewmembers explained that the markings were a symbol which highlighted the shooting down of a Lebanese Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ( UAV) which was flying in Israeli air space. Other IDF aircraft that were seen at Andravida were one Beech 200 and a single Gulfstream G550. 

Given the high level of HAF personnel and the capability to involve a variety of weapon systems within one of the largest exercise areas in Europe, the Iniochos exercise intends to become one of the most competitive exercise in Europe and in the Mediterranean region. 

Author would like to thank the HAF HQ and the Air Tactics Centre Comm Col. Zolotas

Text and photos: Vincent Martens

An F-16D Block 52 from 340 Mira on its way to taxi towards the runway for a morning mission

Six USAFE Fighting Falcons were deployed from Spangdahlem AB in Germany to Andravida. Three of these F-16Cs were carrying mission markings, probably from the fight against ISIS/Daesh in Syria