From April 1 to 12, the Hellenic Air Force hosted a medium-sized multinational exercise named Iniochos at the base of 117 Combat Wing in Andravida, home of the Greek Phantoms.
In this exercise the HAF along with five other participating Air Forces took advantage of some of the most suitable and at the same time most challenging airspace in Europe for conducting these large scale air operations, with a wide variety of air defense systems and a remarkable mix of modern aircraft and ordnance combined with considerably experienced crews.
The Iniochos exercise dates back in the late 80s, when it was established as a small scale air warfare exercise with aircraft only of the HAF. Initially the participating aircraft were being deployed to 110 CW in Larisa, but in later years each aircraft were operating from its home base.
In 2005, Iniochos was transformed into a medium scale exercise, involving all three branches of the Hellenic Armed Forces. In November 2013, the Single Base Concept was adopted for Iniochos and the selected host base for this kind of event was the 117 CW at Andravida. It was also decided that Iniochos would become an Invitex exercise, meaning that other nations could be invited to participate in the exercise.
The duration of this exercise is 10 – 15 calendar days and operations make use of the majority of the Hellenic FIR. The Exercise scenario adopts a Single Base Concept (execution of operations from a single Air Base), requiring the participation of all branches of the Armed Forces. The exercise’s objective is to provide realistic training, which is achieved by creating a realistic battle environment. Participating personnel are exposed to an intensive battle rhythm with realistic attrition rates and challenging scenarios that include multiple modern threats which is expected to dominate in the modern battlefield and test both the physical and psychological endurance of the modern fighter.
In order to achieve the objective of the exercise, the HFWS (Hellenic Fighter Weapons School) oversees the missions from scenario planning to debriefing and makes certain that they cover the full spectrum of missions currently performed by the HAF such as:
– Air operations versus Integrated Air Defense System (IADS)
– Offensive Counter Air / Airfield Attack
– Air Interdiction / Special Targets (bridges, power stations, vehicles, etc.).
– Anti Surface Warfare
– Slow Mover Protection (SLOMO)
– Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR).
– Dynamic Targeting (DT) / Strike Coordination and Reconnaissance (SCAR) / Close Air Support (CAS) / Time Sensitive Targets (TST).
– High Value Airborne Asset (HVAA) Protect/Attack
This year’s edition of Iniochos was attended by a wide variety of combat aircraft from six nations.
Among them:
United Arab Emirates: Mirage 2000-9
USA: F-16C
Italy: Tornado IDS, Tornado ECR and F-35A (for the first time)
Israel: F-16C and F-16D
Cyprus: AW139
Greece: F-4E, Mirage 2000, F-16C and F-16D
The main goal of the exercise Iniochos is to simulate a real battle scenario, which includes the design, operation, collection of data from the battle assessment and the debriefing for each mission. The Iniochos aspires to become the most competitive exercise in Europe and the Mediterranean region, and provide participants with a high level of training as in the major world exercises, such as the American Red Flag.
Unfortunately the delegation of the Israeli Air Force left on Friday morning before the start of the media day. To make things even worse, the United Arab Emirates decided to not take part in the mission while the AW139 of Cyprus wasn't seen yet at the base. This left just the Greek, Italian and American delegation to take part with the missions of the day.
I still would like to thank the Hellenic air force to be invited to report about this exercise.
In this exercise the HAF along with five other participating Air Forces took advantage of some of the most suitable and at the same time most challenging airspace in Europe for conducting these large scale air operations, with a wide variety of air defense systems and a remarkable mix of modern aircraft and ordnance combined with considerably experienced crews.
The Iniochos exercise dates back in the late 80s, when it was established as a small scale air warfare exercise with aircraft only of the HAF. Initially the participating aircraft were being deployed to 110 CW in Larisa, but in later years each aircraft were operating from its home base.
In 2005, Iniochos was transformed into a medium scale exercise, involving all three branches of the Hellenic Armed Forces. In November 2013, the Single Base Concept was adopted for Iniochos and the selected host base for this kind of event was the 117 CW at Andravida. It was also decided that Iniochos would become an Invitex exercise, meaning that other nations could be invited to participate in the exercise.
The duration of this exercise is 10 – 15 calendar days and operations make use of the majority of the Hellenic FIR. The Exercise scenario adopts a Single Base Concept (execution of operations from a single Air Base), requiring the participation of all branches of the Armed Forces. The exercise’s objective is to provide realistic training, which is achieved by creating a realistic battle environment. Participating personnel are exposed to an intensive battle rhythm with realistic attrition rates and challenging scenarios that include multiple modern threats which is expected to dominate in the modern battlefield and test both the physical and psychological endurance of the modern fighter.
In order to achieve the objective of the exercise, the HFWS (Hellenic Fighter Weapons School) oversees the missions from scenario planning to debriefing and makes certain that they cover the full spectrum of missions currently performed by the HAF such as:
– Air operations versus Integrated Air Defense System (IADS)
– Offensive Counter Air / Airfield Attack
– Air Interdiction / Special Targets (bridges, power stations, vehicles, etc.).
– Anti Surface Warfare
– Slow Mover Protection (SLOMO)
– Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR).
– Dynamic Targeting (DT) / Strike Coordination and Reconnaissance (SCAR) / Close Air Support (CAS) / Time Sensitive Targets (TST).
– High Value Airborne Asset (HVAA) Protect/Attack
This year’s edition of Iniochos was attended by a wide variety of combat aircraft from six nations.
Among them:
United Arab Emirates: Mirage 2000-9
USA: F-16C
Italy: Tornado IDS, Tornado ECR and F-35A (for the first time)
Israel: F-16C and F-16D
Cyprus: AW139
Greece: F-4E, Mirage 2000, F-16C and F-16D
The main goal of the exercise Iniochos is to simulate a real battle scenario, which includes the design, operation, collection of data from the battle assessment and the debriefing for each mission. The Iniochos aspires to become the most competitive exercise in Europe and the Mediterranean region, and provide participants with a high level of training as in the major world exercises, such as the American Red Flag.
Unfortunately the delegation of the Israeli Air Force left on Friday morning before the start of the media day. To make things even worse, the United Arab Emirates decided to not take part in the mission while the AW139 of Cyprus wasn't seen yet at the base. This left just the Greek, Italian and American delegation to take part with the missions of the day.
I still would like to thank the Hellenic air force to be invited to report about this exercise.
