Uvda Air Base - The commander of the UAE Air Force arrived in Israel this week on a historic visit, the first of its kind, to follow the massive "Blue Flag" maneuvers that the army conducts every two years, an international air exercise that takes place this month over the desert The Negev, according to the Israeli army.
The Israeli Air Force considers this year's air exercise the largest and most advanced that Israel has ever hosted, with some countries for the first time or in ways more significant than the previous four exercises.
We have 80 combat aircraft here of various types, and 1,500 foreign personnel have been sent here, under the 'umbrella' of the coronavirus, said Brigadier General Amir Lazar, chief of operations of the Israeli Air Force, who organized the exercise. Over the past year, we have been working on hosting the exercise and making it up to the level we expect it to be.”
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We believe that conducting the exercise is of great strategic value for the Israeli Air Force and the State of Israel. As part of the exercise, we are organizing a day for senior officials on Tuesday, in which 11 air force commanders from around the world will participate, including – for the first time – the commander of the UAE Air Force.
The UAE will not participate in the exercises, but it sent its air force commander, Ibrahim Nasser Muhammad Al-Alawi, to follow up part of the exercise, in Al-Alawi’s first official visit to Israel since the signing of the normalization agreement between the two countries within the framework of the “Abraham Accords” last year. Earlier this year, Israeli and Emirati pilots flew together in an exercise hosted by Greece, and have participated in US-led air force exercises in the past.
In addition to the countries actually participating in the exercises, several other countries sent military personnel to observe the exercises. In addition to the UAE, representatives from Japan, Romania, Finland, the Netherlands, Australia, South Korea and Croatia will attend the exercise.
UAE Air Force Commander Ibrahim Nasser Muhammad Al-Alawi, in the center of the photo from the right, lands in Israel and meets with Israeli Air Force Commander Amikam Norkin, in the center of the photo from the left, to follow the “Blue Flag” exercise of the Israeli Air Force on October 25, 2021.The Israeli Air Force hopes to extend the scope of the biennial “Blue Flag” exercise to other countries in the region in the future.
In addition to the “Blue Flag” exercise, Israel will also host a conference on Tuesday for commanders of air forces that operate F-35 fighter jets at Nevatim Air Base, which will be led by the United States.
Several foreign countries have sent fighter jets to the exercise this year, including the United States, Germany, Italy and Greece - all of which participated in previous "Blue Flag" exercises - as well as the United Kingdom, France and India. It was the first time that British military planes had flown over Israel since the country's founding in 1948, and the first time that French fighter planes had been sent to Israel (although last year French planes took part in an Israeli Air Force exercise off the Israeli coast, However, it returned to a French aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean after each sortie.) India has already participated in the 2017 Blue Flag exercise, although New Delhi only sent a cargo plane to this exercise, while this year a group of fighter jets took part in the exercise for the first time.
In the exercise, the Air Force, known as the “Blue Team,” was pitted against the so-called “Red Team,” a fictional country – “Dragon Land” – with capabilities and advantages not unlike those in Syria, with different types of Various Russian-made missile defense systems and aircraft, although Israeli Air Force officials stressed that “Dragonland” does not represent a specific enemy, but rather a general enemy.
In some cases, the “red team” has been tasked with carrying out strikes against the “blue team.” In other cases, he had to fend off the attack of the Blue Team.
A said, “The blue team had missions and the red team had missions. After each sortie, we checked ourselves, did we accomplish our mission?”
Lazar told reporters that the exercise was not intended to simulate a strike on Iran and that "Dragonland" was actually supposed to be a fictional and "hypothetical" country.
This was a multinational exercise, but with an Israeli flavor. Lazar said: “We focused on the tasks to defend the country's skies, and to defend the borders, which Europeans usually do not know very well. We also train for strikes deep behind enemy lines, and provide assistance to ground forces and escort cargo planes and helicopters to land forces behind enemy lines.”
4th and 5th generation aircraft participated in the exercise side by side, giving countries the opportunity to see how the two types of aircraft can complement each other. Israel and Italy flew fifth-generation F-35 stealth fighters — the United States was also supposed to but could not because of logistical problems — while other countries flew fourth-generation aircraft: British and German pilots flew Eurofighters. The French flew the Dassault Rafale, the Indians the Dassault Mirage, and the Americans and the Greeks flew the F-16. Israeli pilots also flew in the F-15 and F-16.
Maj. Gen. Amikam Norkin, commander of the Israeli Air Force (photo left), and the commander of the German Air Force, Lieutenant-General Ingo Gerhartz visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, October 17, 2021. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)For Israel The exercises, which take place every two years, have a dual significance: giving the IAF an opportunity to train alongside foreign pilots, practice international cooperation and learn their methods and techniques, as well as engage in what the military refers to as “air diplomacy.” Israel attaches great importance to these military relations, believing that they give the country a greater degree of international legitimacy, as foreign armies can support the Israeli army in front of their governments, after looking closely at Israel's protocols and methods.
Israeli Air Force Commander Amikam Norkin said in a statement: “We are flying in a joint coalition, wing-to-wing, with our partner air forces – the United States, Germany, Britain, Italy, Greece, India and France. The threat Israel faces comes from various arenas, from the Gaza Strip to Syria, Lebanon and Iran. This joint exercise allows us to learn from the Air Force in training and prepare Air Force personnel for various scenarios in real time, with the goal of continuing to succeed in our mission: to defend the security of the State of Israel.”
Israeli and German fighter jets fly over the Knesset, in a show of cooperation between the two countries and their militaries, on October 17, 2021. (Israel Defense Forces)For the countries in the exercise, most of them from Europe, the exercise allows them to fly into unfamiliar territory over the desert And under different conditions – lower altitudes, faster speeds and the ability to use camouflaged flares – than their home countries would allow.
For German pilot Matthias, Eurofighter pilot, this was the first time he had flown over the Middle East.
"We were able to fly lower and faster than in Germany," Matthias told The Times of Israel.
In response to a question about the significance of German planes flying over Israel, Matthias, who only gave his first name, said he was “honored” by the experience, given the Holocaust and the history of the two countries.
To launch the exercise, Israeli and German planes – including a Luftwaffe Eurofighter bearing the flags of the two countries – flew over Jerusalem to celebrate the close ties between the two countries.