Defense Technology International - June 2008 - (Page 27)

HOME ON THE RANGE Dutch air force goes west to maximize training Dutch F-16 pilot is ready for a sortie at Hill AFB, Utah. Note the MiG-29 kill that dates to the 1999 Kosovo campaign. with our Northrop Grumman Litening AT and Lockheed Martin Lantirn lasertargeting pods, although we can practice precision strike procedures with GPSguided munitions. “From an environmental point of view, we cannot ﬂy night-training sorties as much as we want from Leeuwarden and Volkel, our main operating bases in the Netherlands. It’s not impossible to do,” Tankink notes, “but there’s a limit to it, which is why we export a major part of our training to the U.S. and Canada.” Hill became the preferred U.S. site because of its training facilities, airspace and the Ogden Air Logistics Center, which can provide support to the Dutch F-16s in case of a major technical problem. “Next year, we’ll most likely be at Hill again,” Tankink says. As for participating in the Red Flag and Maple Flag exercises, this is “important because of the complexity of scenarios, the large number of participants and the extensive range and debrieﬁng facilities,” Tankink says. “As a small European air force, though, we have little or no influence on the training scenarios. Which is why we have our own local exercise, Frisian Flag, a relatively low-cost training opportunity, for which we can invite the partners we want and write the training objectives and scenarios.” Frisian Flag 08, Mar. 31-Apr. 11 at Leeuwarden, involved Dutch and Belgian F-16s, French Rafales, German F-4F Phantoms and supporting assets, including an AWACS from NATO, an air defense frigate, airborne and ground threat simulators, and special forces. A planned deployment by British and Spanish ﬁghters, however, was canceled, as was participation by 10 U.S. Air Force F-15s that would have joined simulated battles over the North Sea from their base in England. Finding air space for training has bedeviled NATO. The alliance moved its Allied Command Operations Tactical Leadership Program to Spain from central Europe, after noise complaints and local restrictions made exercises di cult (DTI April 2007, p. 39). I Read Janssen Lok’s posts on DTI's weblog, Ares, updated daily: AviationWeek.com/ares 27 ROYAL NETHERLANDS AIR FORCE JORIS JANSSEN LOK•THE HAGUE S mall European air forces are increasingly seeking innovative ways of staging realistic live-ﬂying exercises for their ﬁghter squadrons, due to weather restrictions and environmental rules that restrict training. One example is the Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF), which completed an extended period of live-ﬂying training exercises in North America in May. The Dutch deployed 11 Lockheed Martin F-16AM/BM fighters to Hill AFB, Utah, in February to start exercises and training programs in the U.S. and Canada. Training partly focused on scenarios encountered in Afghanistan, where the Dutch have six F-16AMs with 10 (rotating) pilots on permanent assignment at Kandahar Air Base. From Mar. 3 through Apr. 16, the Dutch were at Hill AFB practicing close air support operations at night. Equipment included the ﬁrst overseas deployment of the new RecceLite tactical air reconnaissance system from Rafael. From Apr. 21 to May 3, the F-16 detachment continued its training at Cold Lake Air Weapons Range, Alberta. This was followed by participation in the multinational live-ﬂying exercise Maple Flag 41, May 5-30, also at Cold Lake, after which the RNLAF ﬁghters returned to Europe. Dutch F-16s deployed to Hill AFB last year for close air support training at night, then participated in the U.S. Air Force exercise Red Flag at Nellis AFB, Nev. Another squadron of Dutch F-16s is based at Springﬁeld, Ohio, through 2010, for pilot conversion and initial tactical training. Col. Peter Tankink of Chief Fighter Branch in RNLAF headquarters says exercises in North America are vital to train pilots for Afghanistan-style operations and for air combat involving large force employment in high-threat environments, day and night. “It’s not that the size of our domestic training airspace is a problem—training areas over the North Sea can be combined and we can make use of adjacent German airspace,” he says. “It’s the weather and environmental restrictions that are the issues. The weather at home often prevents us from practicing AviationWeek.com/dti JUNE 2008 DEFENSE TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL http://AviationWeek.com/ares http://AviationWeek.com/dti

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Defense Technology International - June 2008

Defense Technology International - June 2008 Contents Around the World Science Watch Tech Watch Basic Black Self-Defense Fire-Resistant Perfezione Hyperspeed Trial Big Sky Cashing In Digital Links Hang Ten Sea Change Programs Update Two Steps Back Direct Hit Staying Power Potent Stinger Do No Harm Guard Duty The Net Cutting Edge First Person In Review Insight

Defense Technology International - June 2008

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