By Piet Luijken
After the first Gulf war it appeared that in spite of a lot of
standards and handbooks issued by NATO it proved
difficult for the participating French and English air armed
forces to cooperate in a good manner. For instance
air-to-air refueling was impossible due to different type
of connectors and misunderstandings due to different
procedures. Therefore the European Air Group was set up, particularly to
ensure that cooperation could be improved. First, for a
certain task, a detailed survey in the used assets and
procedures for a certain task was necessary. In this way the
EAG could understand the different philosophies the
air forces have developed to achieve the best solution for
the task. Thereafter, guidelines and procedures would be
written for that task that would have the best of all worlds
.Finally the new procedures would have to be tested in real
to find all the bottlenecks and the procedures could be
refined. Tasks like the different use of ACMI pods, use of
different fuels and CSAR have had the EAG treatment. And all
have been tested in the annual VOLCANEX exercises.
The Belgium airbase Florennes was chosen
to be the main base for the VOLCANEX 2005 exercise. With no
TLP exercise, all spaces and offices could be used. The
VOLCANEX 2005 exercise was especially dedicated to train
according to the CSAR Mission Planning Guide ( MPG ),
written by the EAG. The focus of this exercise was to have a
multinational CSAR Task Force operate efficiently and
cooperatively in a hostile environment according this CSAR
MPG. This Task Force consisted of some German, French, Dutch
and Belgian helicopters. As prime helicopter for the rescue
of the pilots, the AdlA send two SA330Ba RESCO's and a
brand-new EC725 Cougar MkII RESCO. The Dutch AH-64DN attack
helicopters were used in the direct support role while four
French SA342 Gazelles and three Belgian A109BA's had a close
support role. Also participating were two German UH-1D
Huey's and a French Army SA330Ba who were used to drop the
Special Forces as the search team for the pilots. They were
also used to drop the pilots in the Ardennes.
For this exercise, a practice area
east of the airbase of Florennes was used. The north part
was friendly while the south part was hostile. In the
friendly part, a Forward Arming and Refueling Point ( FARP
) was installed. In the hostile area, several air defence
missile simulators were deployed next to a Belgian Army
platoon. Three missions were trained in this exercise. The
first mission was a straightforward CSAR mission in daylight.
The second exercise was a bit more difficult, as Special
Forces had to be dropped to search for the pilots. When
found, the pick-up by helicopters could not be performed due
to the presence of the hostile Belgian platoon and the
Special Forces had to escort the pilots to another
rendezvous point. After being chased by the Belgian Army
platoon with search dogs, they were intercepted and
interrogated. When released, the troops had to route again
to the rendezvous point and were finally pick-up by
the choppers after a 24 hour travel. The third mission was
performed in the night, using the Night Vision Goggles ( NVG
).
This exercise was the first for the
brandnew EC725 to participate. This EC725 is the ultimate
CSAR helicopter. It is based on the Cougar helicopter, but
adapted and modernized for its CSAR role. The helicopter has
a enormous range of 500 km and can be airborne for 6 hours.
It can be refueled in the air or on the ground to extend
this range. It can fly in all weather conditions using its
coupled autopilots, NVG and FLIR while being protected with
a weather radar and full de-icing of rotors, tail plane and
windows. It will be protected against bullets with its
armour on the cockpit and engine compartment, against
missiles with its self-defense system with jammers and flares
and against all other with the two FN mitrailleurs at both
sides of the fuselage. At the right side, three
winches are attached. The helicopter is easily recognizable
due to the FLIR pod under the nose and the new five bladed
rotor, taken from the NH-90. At this moment, the French
Air Force AdlA and the Army have both ordered 8 EC725's. At
this moment the French test wing CEAM has three EC725's.
Together with the Apaches this is an unbeatable team,
although the A-10A is missed for its close support role.
The exercise was troubled by bad weather, with low clouds and a
continuous drizzle, hampering the missions.
Volcanex 2006 will be a extended exercise to train all aspects of the
EAG. The exercise will be held at Decimomannu between
the 15th of may and the 26th of may, 2006 and will
involve an exercise in deployment of a complete
multi-national Air Force at an unprepared airport,
complete with the needed transport fleet, CSAR
exercises, refueling practices and logistics. During
the exercise, the Italian Airbases Gioia del Colle and
Pratica di Mare will also be used.
I would like to thank Commandant Borie and LTC van Dop of
the Euro Air Group.
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