AirForces Monthly – September 2019

Co-ordinating missions between

air and land elements took a lot

of time in the planning phase.

For flying units, as much as

four hours of planning could

be required for one hour in the

air. In total, some 290 sorties

were performed, amounting

to around 500 flight hours.

COMAO concepts

Originating as an exercise to

bring an international helicopter

force together under HEP

working guidelines, the Blade

exercises now increasingly

involve multiple aims, with some

of the more ‘exotic’ tasks this

year including deploying military

dogs on a line from a helicopter.

Each day, a different type of

COMAO was practised, mostly

in the afternoon, while specific

adjustments were trained in the

morning’s ‘shadow’ operations. A

common concept was a four-ship

of transport helicopters escorted

by two to four attack rotorcraft,

but the total package sometimes

exceeded 12 helicopters.

Larger formations were typically

divided into three or four smaller

groups and elements could find

themselves re-tasked during flight.

Three Luftwaffe CH-53s from

Hubschraubergeschwader 64

(HSG 64, Helicopter Wing 64)

at Laupheim offered the biggest

payload potential, with the ability to

put a full platoon onto the ground.

Hungarian Hinds

Hungarian detachment commander

Colonel Zoltán Rolkó, deputy

commander of the MH 86.

Szolnok Helikopter Bázis (86th

Helicopter Base), oversaw the

first operational deployment of

the country’s overhauled Mi-24s.

Two Hinds actively participated in

DB19 and one served as a spare.

The newly repainted Mi-24s are

now equipped with integrated GPS,

instrument landing system (ILS)

and night-vision goggles (NVGs)

capabilities. For the first time, the

EDA planned for a COMAO using

NVGs in DB19 – organisers judged

these missions as being three times

more demanding than daylight flying.

Rolkó admitted: “In the first

days the briefing was a little

chaotic, but this soon changed.

Later on, the outcomes became

much better and we moved

from confusion to forming strong

bonds with each other.”

Rolkó confirmed that a new

HEP exercise would be staged in

Hungary in 2022, by which time

the local inventory will include 20

H145M and 12 H225M helicopters.

Evolutionary process

Svoboda noted “the same

professionalism” among established

‘Bladers’ and new participants such

as Poland. For several members

of the Belgian Air Component,

DB19 was the first time they’d

taken their NH90s on exercise,

DB19 air assets

Nation Type(s)

Belgium 3 x A109, 3 x NH

Czech

Republic

5 x Mi-24, 6 x Mi-171, 4

x L-

Germany 3 x CH-

Hungary 3 x Mi-24, 2 x Mi-

Slovenia 1 x AS

Poland 1 x W-3A

Above: Fixed-wing participation was

limited to the L-159A ALCA, including

serial 6066, taxiing at Náměšť nad

Oslavou. The jet is flown by the 212.

taktická letka (213th Tactical Squadron)

at Čáslav. Kees Otten and Wim Das

Above: Helicopters assigned armed overwatch duty circled around the transport

rotorcraft when necessary. This Belgian NH90 door gunner is manning a

12.7mm calibre M3M heavy machine gun. Jozef Vanden Broeck/Belgian MoD

http://www.airforcesmonthly.com #378 September 2019 // 15

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