Ovar (Portugal), 17/07/2012 (Agence Europe) - The region of Aqua, in the State of Maracate, is blighted by troubles caused by various insurgent groups and by the subversive activity of its eastern neighbour, the State of Kopami. An EU-led military operation, EUFOR Aqua Region, has been launched, with the main aim of ensuring security and of protecting the United Nations refugee mission. With 2,700 men, 22 helicopters and four F-16 fighter jets, it includes air assault operations, airlift of special forces by helicopter, and evacuation of the wounded.
Based on the operational conditions of NATO-led missions in Afghanistan and Libya, this fictitious scenario was set in place by the Portuguese Army as part of the multinational military exercise organised under the aegis of the European Defence Agency (EDA). Since 2009, three similar exercises have already been conducted in France, Spain and Italy. This fourth edition, which unfolds from 9-19July with daily exercises, goes by the name of Hot Blade 12. Compared to earlier exercises, the addition of an F-16 squadron and a civilian component makes the simulation the “greatest and the most demanding helicopter exercise ever”, according to the chief of staff of Portugal's Air Force, General José Antonio de Magalhaes Araujo Pinheiro.
Located on the western slopes of Mount Estrela, near the Ovar airbase not far from the town of Porto, the mediaeval castle of Linhares da Beira was chosen by the Portuguese Army as an observation point from where a group of European guests and journalists could watch the demonstration unfold, on Thursday 12 July. The site, at an altitude of just over 820 metres, was an excellent viewpoint for the exercise being carried out at a lower gradient. Although the presentation prepared for the visitors only lasted about 30 minutes, several operations were conducted simultaneously, offering a constant to-and-fro movement of reconnaissance helicopters, troop transport, logistic means and medical support. According to quite a traditional scenario in this kind of action demonstration, the aim of the exercise was to deploy about ten members of the special forces tasked with securing the zone. Constantly present but invisible until the very last minute, the F-16, whose aim it was to ensure close air support for troops on the ground, finally hailed the public with a deafening greeting by flying at no more than a few hundred metres altitude over the observation site.
The main aim of these repeated exercises is to verify the interoperability of a multinational force which deploys ground and aviation means in a hot, dusty theatre of operations, outside Europe. During this first session of the year 2012, as the next is already being prepared, this time in Belgium (“Green Blade”, from 18 September to 15 October), helicopters from six European nations were deployed: Portugal, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria and Finland. Sweden and the United Kingdom for their part have sent several observers, and Luxembourg has once again provided the biggest financial contribution to the exercise.
Within the area of the exercise, the aviation means carry out joint formation flights, in different kinds of operations, and the whole exercise unfolds in close cooperation with a rapid response brigade of the Portuguese Army and special force units from the Portuguese Navy. The members of the helicopter crews are called upon to cooperate with each other, as they would have to do in Afghanistan, in the context of a range of operations such as air assault, special operations aviation, close air support, convoy protection, combat search and rescue and medical evacuation. It is, moreover, this aspect that illustrates the exercise's complementarity with NATO. Between 2009 and 2011, 50% of the crews, corresponding to 36 helicopters, had to carry out missions in Afghanistan further to EDA training.
Nonetheless, the major innovation of the exercise is that it includes F-16 air support and an integrated civil protection unit. The latter, despite legal difficulties encountered, was set up at the request of the Portuguese authorities in order to have the possibility to deploy support helicopters for civilian forces fighting forest fires each year. The weather, however, was somewhat dismal in Portugal without being as rainy as in northern Europe and so the instrument was not needed.
EDA Executive Director Claude-France Arnould said “Hot Blade has been a large and successful exercise. The skills learned and flying hours gained are so valuable - doubly so at a time when many militaries are cutting back on training”. She was speaking after the demonstration day on Thursday 12 July, wishing to point out that the exercise, like those that had gone before, was “planned on an ad hoc basis, not through an institutionalised team, with all the memory and support that implies”. That, however, is one aspect that is bound to change, as the EDA is soon expected to have a permanent planning team. “Through them, we will support and plan each new exercise in the coming years, in a more orderly and deliberate fashion, learning the lessons and driving coordination”, Arnould said. That is an approach that she would like to see extend to a European scale, so that institutionalised coordination becomes the rule rather than the exception. (JK/transl.jl)