Airforces

he Blue Flag training

exercise simulated a

continuous combat

scenario, with around 100 sorties

flown each day for a total of

around 1,000 flights overall. Each

day saw different targets destroyed

and the success or failure of

every action affected the rest

of the exercise. Held between

November 2 and 16, missions

ranged from border protection to

Blue-versus-Blue air-to-air combat,

in which participants were divided

into attackers and defenders,

and flew against each other.

Brig Gen Amnon Ein-Dar, the

head of the Israeli Air Force’s (IAF’s)

Training and Doctrine Division,

explained: “Every division [of the

IAF] has international exercises,

but Blue Flag connects them all.

This exercise is the climax of the

IAF’s international programme.”

Blue Flag began in 2003 as an

annual training workshop for the

IAF and evolved to include most

fixed-wing combat squadrons. The

exercise dealt exclusively with IAF

scenarios before it was re-launched

as a biennial international event

in 2013. The move reflected

geopolitical changes and the

shifting balance of power in the

Middle East in particular. Since

then, the emphasis has not been

on co-ordination among pilots at a

unit level, but between air forces.

The exercise is now bigger, taking

place over two weeks, and involves

a multinational scenario simulating

the kinds of missions likely to

be encountered as part of NATO

and/or a multinational coalition.

‘Flying Dragon’

aggressors

The exercise is held at Ovda

in southern Israel. As well

as being the country’s main

deployment base, it is the home

of 115 Squadron ‘Flying Dragon’

• the IAF’s aggressor unit. The
  location offers excellent training
  opportunities in the Negev Desert
  and hosts the Advanced Training
  Center, which teaches the IAF’s
  combat doctrine. Although the
  exercise area in the Negev is small
  compared with those found in

78 // JANUARY 2018 #358 http://www.airforcesmonthly.com

Exercise

Report Blue Flag 2017

Duels in the desert

The third iteration of Blue

Flag was Israel’s biggest-

ever multinational

exercise. Around 1,200

air and ground crews

and some 70 aircraft

generated dozens of joint

sorties over the Negev

Desert in the south

of the country. Amit

Agronov and Noam

Menashe were there.

T