The last two weeks were very busy for the more than 500 participant of the multinational Green Blade exercise. Military personnel from Belgium, Germany and Italy trained together with Special Forces from Belgium, Germany and Spain on numerous common missions.
In total, 15 helicopters of different types are currently involved in the combined Green Blade/Pegasus exercise. Italy operates transport (CH-47) and attack (A-129) helicopters, Germany and Belgium two types of utility helicopters (UH-1D and A-109). Other aircraft used by Belgium are two C-130s, two B-Hunters and up to four F-16s.
During the entire exercise, helicopters execute around 65 missions of steadily increasing complexity, from typical Special Operations-related missions, such as insertion/ extraction, Direct Action, Personnel Recovery, and Intelligence Surveillance & Reconnaissance, by day and by night, in single or multiship configurations. The exercise will also include more conventional types of missions, such as Airmobile Operations, Recce & Surveillance and Medical Evacuation, as well as non-tactical training missions, such as Night Vision Goggle-flying, Nap of Earth flight and Gun Firing. These missions will add up to around 650 crucial Flying Hours.
The exercise will run until 5 October.
More information
- Additional pictures are available on Flickr.
- More videos are available on YouTube.