Supercruise Aviation - Article |
Iniochos 2021 |
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The above statement was made by Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis during his speech on April 20th. He attended the Iniochos exercise along with other VIPs. Mitsotakis also mentioned. ’At the same time, however, we cannot be naive. We are facing new threats. Our world is extremely complicated and our neighborhood is unfortunately becoming more unstable. Greece will continue to expand its defense capabilities and to upgrade its Armed Forces. We will continue to implement NATO's target for expenditures equal to 2 pct of GDP’. Also present that day was the United States Air Force General Jeff Harrigian. ‘Iniochos is an important opportunity for our airmen to train alongside and learn from our Greek allies, as well as the other exercise participants. It both improves the relationships that underpin our military alliance and creates opportunities to refine critical skills that enhance our interoperability.’ |
Introduction |
Iniochos 2021 Since the outbreak of Covid-19 at the end of 2019, events have been canceled rapidly. The pandemic drew a thick line through all aviation events that the public should have been allowed to attend. Nevertheless, exercises did take place in 2020. Often the aircraft operated from their own airbase.
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The Iniochos exercise ATC strives to introduce realistic exercise scenarios every year. The reason is obvious. The political theater is constantly changing. The development of modern weapons continues; improved radar systems, improved ground-to-air defense systems. But certainly also the chance that a dogfight has to be started with a more modern aircraft than the one flown in. That is why Iniochos is designed to help participating nations improve their combat readiness and fighting capability while honing skills to protect ‘regional and global security’. It allows participants to develop capabilities planning and perform complex air operations in a joint force environment. A wide variety of operations will be flown throughout the exercise. To name a few: Offensive Counter Air Operations (OCA), Air Defense Operations (ADO), Counter Surface Force Operations (CSFO) including Air Power Contribution to Land Ops (APCLO), Air Power Contribution to Maritime Ops (APCMO), Reconnaissance (RECCE) missions, Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) missions, Time Sensitive Target (TST) missions, Dynamic Targeting (DT), High Value Airborne Asset (HVAA) and Slow Mover Protection (SLOMO). |
The pilots do not know in advance what kind of opposition they will encounter along the way. There is Intell available but how reliable this is the pilots undergo during the mission. The danger can come from the air, from the sea or from the ground. And if an aircraft is virtually destroyed, it may no longer participate in the mission for some time and the attack plan must be adjusted during the mission. Red Air, flies with equivalent or even more modern aircraft and has no limitations in the application of the aircraft's capabilities. This makes the exercise even more difficult for the pilots. Often they are also the most experienced pilots who act as Red Air. That the exercise is intensive is evident from the number of missions per day. An average of 120 to 130 flights are made. A part of these flights take place during night. New in this years Iniochos exercise was the introduction of an 'elephant walk'. Three aircraft from each unit took part. A total of thirty-four aircraft could be seen, thirty-three fighter aircraft and one Cypriot helicopter. The elephant walk was led by three Greek F-16’s. Photographers were allowed to stand next to the runway to take pictures of this impressive and special parade. A drone filmed and took pictures from above the runway. These drone images have been frequently shared by the Hellenic Air Force on various social media channels. |
International field of participants
Foreign participation, flying from Andravida airbase:
Greek participation from Andravida airbase: Present during Iniochos as observers were Egypt, Austria, Slovenia, Jordan and Romania while Canada provided CGI-Air Weapon Managers. A total of ninety-six aircraft participated in this years Iniochos edition.` |
French Rafales Evaluation
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