Since Sept. 2, Royal Saudi Air Force Typhoons and Tornados are deployed to RAF Coningsby, in the UK, where they are training together with the Royal Air Force.
The four Typhoons belong to the 3 Sqn, whereas the Tonkas are from the 75 Sqn. Also deployed to Coningsby from Marham are six Tornado GR4s.
During the first two weeks, the Saudi aircraft took part in the Green Flag exercise that saw eight Tornados and eight Typhoons take off in pairs for two daily waves (one in the morning and the other one in the afternoon, both lasting on average about 2 hours).
Noteworthy, each two-ship flight was made of a RAF and RSAF aircraft.
After attending the Green Flag, the Saudi Typhoons and Tornados remained in the UK to continue working with the British aircraft for two more weeks.
The images in this post were taken at RAF Coningsby by The Aviationist’s contributor Alessandro Fucito.
Centered on two Main Operating Bases, Decimomannu and Trapani, were the tactical planes were based; Star Vega 2013 saw the participation of all the types of assets of the Italian Air Force, including the C-130J and C-27J cargos from Pisa, the KC-767s from Pratica di Mare; and the Italian UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) from Amendola.
The following images were taken by Alessandro Caglieri and Gian Luca Onnis at Decimomannu airbase where the attack planes were based.
Tornado ECR of the 50° Stormo from Piacenza:
Tornado IDS of the 6° Stormo, from Ghedi:
AMX of the 51° Stormo, from Istrana:
Lockheed Martin “Dragon Star” Airborne Multi-Intelligence Laboratory (more on this platform will be published in a future piece):
C-27J of the 46^ Brigata Aerea from Pisa:
Image credit: Alessandro Caglieri and Gian Luca Onnis
One of them is Decimomannu airbase, in Sardinia, where aircraft belonging to several Italian and foreign services (including U.S. ones, sporadically) deploy to undertake air-to-air and air-to-surface live firing activities.
Few weeks ago, we published the images of the Eurofighter Typhoons belonging to all the Italian Air Force squadrons equipped with the European fighter jet, deployed at “Deci”.
The images in this post, taken by The Aviationist’s contributors Gian Luca Onnis and Alessandro Caglieri, show some of the aircraft recently deployed in the Sardinian base.
Noteworthy, along with the Italian Air Force AMX and German Air Force Tornado fighter bombers, Decimomannu has hosted in April the last detachment of the WTD-61′s F-4 Phantoms.
The F-4 is going to be retired by the GAF later this year.
Image credit: Gian Luca Onnis, Alessandro Caglieri
Held twice each year in the Scottish Exercise Areas, Joint Warrior is a large exercise that sees the participation of assets from all three UK armed services as well as numerous foreign ones.
Taking part to the JW13, that kicked off on Apr. 15 and is due to last until Apr. 29, are personnel, aircraft, warships belonging to the UK, France, U.S., Brazil, Canada, Poland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Norway and Italy.
The two airbases involved in the exercise are Lossiemouth, which hosts maritime patrol aircraft and local Tornado GR4s; and Leuchars, where fighters and foreign jets are headquartered.
The current Order of Battle of the JW, is as follows.
Missions flown during a JW range from Close Air Support, to TASMO (Tactical Air Support to Maritime Operations) to Defensive Counter Air. Usually, during the first week the aircraft involved in the exercise get used with the local procedures and fly basic sorties; during the second week, things become tough and realistic, with MPA aircraft aloft up to 10 hours and live firing activities.
Noteworthy, both the RAF Typhoons and the French Rafale taking part in the exercise are being operated as multirole planes. According to Officer Commanding 6 Squadron, Wing Commander Mike Baulkwill, who spoke to The Courier:
“Joint Warrior brings together our pilots and our engineers with their French equivalents who have a slightly different way of operating, so we can learn lessons from them and likewise they can learn lessons from us. It is about making sure that when we go and do this for real we can get it right first time.”
Image credit: Alessandro Fucito
All the images in this post were taken by The Aviationist’s contributor Alessandro Fucito, who went to Lossiemouth to observe some JW13 flying activity.
The display is fast, loud and dynamic, with large explosions from the pyrotechnics as the unfolding scenario is acted out via a commentator.
Image credit: Gareth Stringer / GAR
The scene is set as coalition troops are pinned down by an enemy firefight. The GR4s enter flying fast and low, wings swept, re-heat plugged in, as they provide a 550 kts “Show of Force.” The ensuing fight includes Brimstone attacks and strafing runs, that give the viewing crowd heat and percussion from the explosions that can even be felt in the aircraft.
Image credit: Gareth Stringer / GAR
Flown by aircrew from XV (15) Squadron based at RAF Lossiemouth, whom are all Iraq and Afghanistan experienced aircrew the team have proved to be very popular with Air Show crowds during 2012.
An exclusive in-depth interview with the Team pilots can be found on the FREE 2012 airshow season review magazine of the Global Aviation Magazine, the monthly digital-only magazine published by the Global Aviation Resource team.
