Last 3rd March, the Tactical Leadership Programme (TLP) concluded its first flying course of 2023, in which personnel from Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece and the United States participated.
FC 2023-1, which started on 13th February and lasted until 3rd March, was attended by 720 participants, including 31 pilots, 6 intelligence officers and 2 air traffic controllers, who graduated at the end of the course. After a week of academic activities and simulator flights, the participants began the real flight phase, during which 275 sorties were flown, with a total of 426 flight hours.
The 24 participating blue force aircrafts were German EF-2000 and PA-200, Belgian, Danish and Greek F-16s, US Navy EF-18s (George Bush aircraft carrier) and French RAFALE-Bs, and flew air missions against eight opposing aircrafts (red force: German EF-2000 and PA-200, Danish and Greek F-16s, US Navy EF-18s and French RAFALE-Bs). Two of the missions also involved two HH101 helicopters, an EZAPAC extraction team, a Belgian SERE team and an Italian JTAC team.
As defensive assets for the opposing side, Spain provided support from the Spanish Army’s Skyguard and the Navy’s MISTRAL systems. In addition, other ground-based air defence systems from the German-based POLYGONE company, plus the real German ROLAND system, participated. These assets helped simulate a complex threat environment during multinational activities. The German company JAMKITE’s Learjet also participated as a communications and radar jammer.
Throughout the three weeks of the flying course, the TLP received the visits of COMUSAFE, DIGENECO (Director General de Asuntos Económicos, SP MOD) with AIREF (Autoridad Independiente de Responsabilidad Fiscal) and the General Director of Budget (Spanish Ministry of Finance), and finally, ENAIRE with EUROCONTROL and the DGAC (Dirección General de Aviación Civil).