On Friday 1st December finished the last Flying Course of the year in the Tactical Leadership Programme, the FC 2023-4, which started on the 13th November has had a duration of 3 weeks.
The total number of participants was close to 700, with 39 of them graduating, including 28 pilots, 6 intelligence officers and 5 GCI controllers.
The flights took place from Monday to Friday in the afternoon, and they started on Monday 20th November, as the first week was dedicated to academic activity and flights in the MACE simulator.
The nations participating as Blue Air in this flying course provided 28 platforms and were Italy with Eurofighter, Spain with EF18 and Eurofighter, France with Rafale M, Greece with Mirage 2000, Poland with F16 and the United Kingdom with Eurofighter. As for the opposing force (Red Air), there was a total of 10 aircraft, with France participating with Alphajet, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom with Eurofighters, and the Czech Republic with L-159s. In this way, and with a course with the maximum number of participants, part of the slots lost after the September course cancellation due to urgent operational reasons, were recovered.
In support of the flying course, a NATO AWACS was present in the second week along with the SP Air and Space Force’s CRCs during the missions.
The participation, for the first time, of the SP Air and Space Force’s MQ-9 Reaper, was one of the highlights of this course.
The participation of two Belgian instructors specialized in personnel rescue missions (SERE), as well as an USAF JTAC team should also be highlighted.
The British DA-20 EW aircraft and the French SCRIBE communications disruption system also participated.
As an anti-aircraft threat, the real air defense systems from the SP Army and Navy participated, with NASAMS, ASPIDE and MISTRAL systems. Several threat simulation systems from the US company POLYGON also participated and were deployed in different parts of the area of operation.
As regards the intervention of other air assets, two IT HH101 helicopters and a SP NH90 participated in the missions, together with their respective extraction teams, as well as a SP C295 tactical transport aircraft. Also, during the flight period, a SAR helicopter was available at San Javier Air Base.
Finally, the TLP facilities continued using the MACE flight simulator, which allows pilots to train not only in the virtual environment, but also to interact with aircraft on real missions through communication protocols.
This Flying Course was also special because of the high-visibility events such as the press conference (Media Day), the DV Day, attended by senior officers from participating nations and NATO, and, above all, the visit of His Majesty the King of Spain.