he Czech Republic’s
first experience of
hosting a Blade exercise
coincided with the decision to
expand the range of elements
and composite actions. Colonel
Miroslav Svoboda was exercise
director and is base commander
of Náměšť nad Oslavou’s 22.
základna vrtulníkového letectva
(22nd Helicopter Base), part of
the Vzdušné síly Armády
České republiky (VzS
AČR, Air Component
of the Army of the
Czech Republic).
He told AFM:
“As a member
of the EDA, we
were committed tothe HEP [Helicopter Exercise
Programme] exercises for many
years and applied to host in 2019.”
While Náměšť nad Oslavou has
staged the Ample Strike series
of close air support exercises,
for Dark Blade 2019 (DB19) the
focus shifted to a variety of
different airmobile operations
including air transport, air
assault, air interdiction, convoy
escort, marshalling, personal
recovery, pick-up and drop-
off procedures, special patrol
insertion/extraction, airdropping
paratroopers and scuba divers,
night operations and live firing.
Composite air operations
(COMAO) were central to the
manoeuvres, so different air forceswith dissimilar assets learnt to
work with each other. The exact
mix of helicopters depended on
the scenario. Land forces also
took part in their own training that
ran concurrently. According to
Svoboda: “We don’t know them
all, but we know they are there
and might show up.” In the Czech
Republic, military helicopters
often train with airborne units
but there are limited options to
work with regular army units.
DB19 provided an excellent
opportunity for Czech soldiers to
team up with foreign helicopters,
as well as exchange Joint
Terminal Attack Controller (JTAC)
expertise with their counterparts
from Belgium and Hungary.Blades
in the night
DarkBlade 2019
wasthe13thBlade
exerciseorganised
bytheEuropean
DefenceAgency(EDA)
andthefirstin the
CzechRepublic.Kees
OttenandWimDas
witnessed theaction. (22nd Helicopter Base), part of
the Vzdušné síly Armády
České republiky (VzS
AČ
of the Army of the
Czech Republic).
He told
“As a member “As a member
of the EDA, we
were committed towitnessedtheaction.
T
Night-time missions were a key part of the latest Blade
exercise. Czech Mi-171Sh serial 9926 awaits its next sortie,
the fl ight deck illuminated by NVG-compatible lighting.
All photos Jan Hlaváč/Czech MoD unless statedHungarian helicopter pair: cannon-
armed Mi-24P serial 336 leads Mi-
17 serial 705. The ‘Hind’ – a former
East German example – had been
withdrawn from service and placed
in storage by 2011-12 but was one
of eight of the assault helicopters to
undergo modernisation in Russia.14 // September 2019 #378 http://www.airforcesmonthly.comExercise
Report Dark Blade 2019
14-16 Blades AFM Sep2019.indd 14 05/08/2019 15:29: