Indian Air Force Mirage 2000 at RAF Waddington
IAF participates for the first time
Cobra Warrior (CW) is a Royal Air Force exercise that takes place twice a year. CW 23-1 took place from 6–24 March 2023. The exercise focussed on training international allies in developing operational tactics in the air. Contrary to other exercises the flying windows were limited to two or three days a week with only one mission flown on these days. Fighter aircraft were supported by refueling aircraft which included the Voyager KC.2/KC.3 assigned to 10 and 101 squadrons based at RAF Brize Norton. Other refueling aircraft were provided by the 351 ARS, 100 ARW based at RAF Mildenhall. During the CW 23-1 missions, the fighter aircraft departed to the North Sea. Here several Air-to-Air refueling tracks were established. This included ARA8 from RAF Waddington located directly east off the coast of Lincolnshire. During the non- CW days the participating crews flew other missions which saw them using the low flying areas “Lake District” in Cumbria and “Mach Loop” in west-central Wales.
First time participants
CW 23-1 saw three air forces participate for the first time. From Europe, the Finnish Air Force took part with their F/A-18C Hornets. Finland has been a long-time partner of NATO and joined the alliance on 4 April 2023. Besides taking part in the exercise, they also used their stay in the United Kingdom to train in support of “JEF Warrior”, a UK led Joint Expeditionary Force. From the Middle East, the Royal Saudi Arabian Air Force participated with its Typhoon fighters. From Asia and flying the longest distance were the Mirage 2000’s of Indian Air Force (IAF) 7 squadron “Battle Axes” one of the three Mirage 2000 squadrons, stationed at Maharajpur AFS. It was not the first visit of the IAF to the UK. Earlier, their Su-30 fighters deployed to RAF Coningsby however then to take part in exercise Indradhanush.
92 squadron
Cobra Warrior is organised by the Air Warfare Centre’s 92 squadron. Once flying the Phantom FGR.2 out of RAF Wildenrath, Germany the squadron was deactivated on 1 July 1991. It was reactivated as 92 (R) Squadron for just two years (23.09.92 – 01.10.94) at RAF Chivenor flying the Hawk T.1 On 30 June 2009, the squadron was again reactivated designated 92 Reserve and Tactics squadron at RAF Cranwell and organised within the Air Warfare Centre at RAF Waddington. Since 2019 the squadron has been organising Cobra Warrior (the Cobra originating from their batch) in support of the RAF international participating squadrons.
Royal Air Force bases and Cobra Warrior
The main base during Cobra Warrior was RAF Waddington located just south of the city Lincoln, Lincolnshire. It serves as the Royal Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance (ISTAR) and the main operating base for airborne intelligence aircraft and systems. Five squadrons are based here, all reporting to No 1 Group. These consist of frontline XIII squadron assigned the MQ-9 Reaper. 14 squadron operating the Shadow R1+, a military modified Beech 350. 51 squadron is equipped with three RC-135W Rivet Joint aircraft. 54 squadron borrows aircraft when required to fulfill its ISTAR Operational Conversion Unit role. Their sisters, 56 squadron are tasked with Air C2ISR Test and Evaluation. The Central Flying School display team the Red Arrows also calls RAF Waddington home after they relocated from RAF Scampton located just to the north of Lincoln.
RAF Coningsby is the second base from where Cobra Warrior missions were flown. It serves as home to No 1 Group squadrons as well and is one of the two Typhoon bases. Two front line squadrons are based, 3(F) squadron and XI (F) Squadron. 29 squadron is the Operational Conversion Unit while 41 (test and evaluation) squadron focus primarily on the Typhoon capability and tactics development. The fifth Typhoon unit is the joint Qatar/RAF 12 squadron It’s unknown if 492 FS and/or 494 FS participated as well as the number of F-15E’s were assigned to CW 23-1. Almost all RAF Typhoons are devoid of squadron markings. Exceptions are 12 and 41 squadrons of which most but not all are wearing their squadron batches. The same applies to a few of the RAF Lossiemouth based squadron Typhoons. Therefore, it’s unknown how many Typhoons of these squadrons took part in Cobra Warrior.
Cobra Warrior 23-2 CW 23-2 is scheduled to take place in September. The exact dates are unknown as well as the countries which will arrive at RAF Waddington and perhaps also RAF Coningsby. Rumours have already started. It will be nice to follow all these.
IAF Mirage 2000s at RAF Waddington for Exercise Cobra Warrior
Article and photos: Manolito Jaarsma
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