The German Air Force is once again taking part in the multinational high-value exercise “Blue Flag” in the Israeli Negev desert. The international maneuver, in which eight nations are taking part this year, is considered one of the highest quality air force exercises in the world.
In addition to the Israeli hosts and the NATO members USA, UK, France, Italy, Greece and Germany, the Indian Air Force is also taking part for the second time since 2017. Around 1,000 soldiers and around 60 of the latest generation of combat aircraft were therefore brought together at the Israeli UVDA air force base. The aim of the exercise is to improve cooperation between different air forces, i.e. to increase interoperability. The training conditions for the German soldiers could hardly be better. Israeli airspace and the topography of the Negev are very different from the familiar European conditions. In addition, India and Israel are two non-NATO countries that use their own procedures, which differ from those of the established NATO countries. The challenge here is to quickly develop common procedures in order to effectively achieve mission objectives. As an expression of the close friendship between the Israeli and German air forces, there will be a joint formation flight by the two air force commanders over Israel at the start of the exercise: An Israeli Air Force F-15 with Major General Amikam Norkin and a Eurofighter flown by Lieutenant General Ingo Gerhartz, Inspector General of the German Air Force. One of the Eurofighters – the “Eagle Star” – was covered with a special foil to express the special relationship and friendship between the German and Israeli air forces. At the start of the visit, Lieutenant General Gerhartz and Major General Norkin will lay a wreath at the Yad Vashem memorial in memory of the victims of the Shoah. “We are taking the close cooperation between our two air forces, which has existed for years, to a higher level than the purely military one. We want to pass on the friendship that unites us to the young soldiers. They are the future. We are putting the Chancellor’s words that Israel’s security is part of Germany’s raison d’être into action. We are flying into a common future without ever forgetting our past,” explains Lieutenant General Gerhartz. The German Air Force will be represented at “Blue Flag” with around 160 men and women and six Eurofighters under the command of Tactical Air Wing 31 “Boelcke”.
