TLP Flying Course 2025-1 began on Thursday 23rd of January and will conclude on Friday 14th of February, with a new schedule in which 2 additional days of academic activity have been added.
The estimated number of participants in this course is around 650, with 36 of them graduating, including 24 flight crew members, 6 intelligence officers and 6 tactical air traffic controllers (GCI).
The flights will take place from Monday to Friday afternoons, starting on Monday 3rd of February, with the previous days being dedicated to the academic part of the course and missions in the MACE simulator.
The Blue Air nations participating in this flying course will contribute with 22 aircraft, including Eurofighter from Italy, EF-18 from Spain, Rafale from France, F-16 from Greece, F-18C from Switzerland and F-16 from Portugal, this being their first participation in a TLP flying course as a new member country of the Programme. As for the participation of the opposing side (Red Air), there will be a total of 12 aircraft, the participating nations being France with Rafale aircraft, Spain with Eurofighter and F-18A, Switzerland with F-18C, and Greece and Portugal with F-16.
In support of the flying course, the French AWACS air control aircraft will be present, together with the Command and Control (C2) resources of the Spanish Air and Space Army (EA) during the TLP missions.
It is also noteworthy the participation of the EA’s MQ-9 Predator B (NR-05) unmanned aircraft, as well as an Italian EM 350 (SPIDR) reconnaissance and intelligence aircraft, which will participate for the first time in TLP flying missions.
As an anti-aircraft threat, the participation of real air defence systems of the Army and the EA, including NASAMS, MALLINA and MISTRAL systems, is foreseen. The French ARPEGE threat simulation system is also scheduled to participate and will be deployed in different parts of the area of operations.
Regarding the intervention of other air assets, a Spanish NH 90 helicopter is expected to participate in the combat air rescue (CSAR) missions as BLUE AIR, together with its respective extraction teams, and two American MH-60 helicopters on the RED side.
There will also be the collaboration of a French A-400 tactical transport aircraft, as well as an Air Rescue Service (SAR) helicopter, which will be available from the San Javier Air Base throughout the flight period of the scheduled TLP missions.
Finally, TLP facilities will continue to use the MACE flying simulator, which allows pilots to train not only in the virtual environment, but also to interact with aircraft on real missions through advanced communication protocols (Link 16).