Israel is preparing to host its largest ever multinational air exercise towards the end of 2013, with "a great number of air forces" having expressed their intention to take part in the Blue Flag manoeuvres. The activity will be led by the Israeli air force's Flying Dragon adversary squadron.
The high level of foreign interest in the air exercise had been expected, says the official in charge of organising the event.
"These air forces hope to learn from the vast combat experience of the Israeli air force, which performs all sorts of combat missions almost on a daily basis," Maj Golan told the service's magazine. In addition to numerous nations sending aircraft to take part, others will be involved by sending observers. "They will follow the exercise, and this will help them decide whether to participate in similar ones in the coming years," he says.
Preliminary meetings to prepare for the exercise are scheduled to be held during the coming months. The manoeuvres will be staged from Uvda air base, with a large area of southern Israel to be closed to other air traffic to allow the large number of participating combat aircraft to fly according to designed scenarios.
Source: Flight International
