AVIATION-SHOTS   

"Iniochos 2019 exercise, took place from 1-12 of April 2019 at Andravida Air Base, Greece.

During the exercise, complex air missions (engagement of ground targets, surface targets, suppression/destruction of enemy air defenses, as well as search & rescue in a combat environment) were carried out, with flights amounting to a combined total of 863 exits, in the entire spectrum of Athens’ FIR, on day and night, with the aim of reinforcing cooperation between the participants in a meaningful, effective and safe manner on a combat tempo.

In order to achieve the objectives of the Exercise, the HAF FWS 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:

1. Offensive Counter Air Operations (OCA).
2. Air Defence Operations (ADO).
3. Counter Surface Force Operations (csfo) including Air Power Contribution to Land Ops (Apclo) and Air Power Contribution to Maritime Ops (APCMO).
4. RECCE missions
5. Combat Search And Rescue missions.
6. Time Sensitive Target missions.
7. Dynamic Targeting
8. High Value Airborne Asset missions.
9. Slow Mover

The exercise involved a large number of air forces:

 - HAF with six F-4E fighter, 32 F-16C/D  and 6 Mirage 2000

- IAF with 12 F-16 C/D/I

- ITAF with 6 Tornado ECR/IDS

- USAF with 12 F-16 C/Ds

- UAE with with 6 Mirage 2000-9.

Brief History 

The «INIOCHOS» Exercise was first conducted in the late 1980s, as a small scale tactical level exercise, tailored to the contemporary necessity for training in combined air operations in accordance with the Hellenic Air Force Doctrine. Over the next years, the success of the exercise led to the decision on establishing it as an annual event.

The exercise objective was to train personnel in planning and execution of Combined Air Operations (COMAO) in accordance with the HAF Doctrine and National Plans in a realistic environment, in order to test and evaluate operational plans and tactics.

For the execution and conduction of the Exercise, the Hellenic Fighter Weapons School was deployed to Larissa, so as to form the White Cell in the facilities of the National Center for Air Operations. The White Cell was responsible for the optimal coordination and planning of the operations, while participating Aircrafts were also deployed to Larissa, at 110CW, from where they launched for their missions.

In 2005, the Exercise was decentralized, thus the participating Aircrafts were operating from their mother bases, while the White Cell, the planning and the coordination were taking place in the Air Tactics Center and the Fighter Weapons School facilities, in Andravida Air Force Base, implementing newly acquired means of Command and Control.

In November 2013, the decision was made to adopt a Single Base Concept, upgrading the exercise scale to medium and expanding the spectrum of operations with the objective to create a more realistic and Demanding environment, with an intensive and prolonged 24/7 battle rhythm, significantly increasing the level of training.

In April 2015, the exercise is being held for the first time in the form of INVITEX (Invitation Exercise), with the participation of the IAF and the USAFE Special Forces (SOF) as JTAC.

(Source: HAF)

We would like to thank the HAF for their great help and cooperation.