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https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/internat ... tary-drill
Updated on 03/21/2017
7:06:24 PM
The Israeli Air Force will host flying forces from seven nations later this year in the largest and most complex air exercise in its history.
Nearly 100 aircraft and several hundreds of air warriors and support crews from the United States, Greece, Poland, France, Germany, India and Italy will converge here in the autumn for Blue Flag, a biennial, two-week drill aimed at honing the type of planning, targeting and coordinated command and control demanded by coalitions operating in high-threat theaters.
Israel will host hundreds of airmen from the US, Greece and Poland and, for the first time, France, Germany, India and Italy will also participate.
Some 40 other countries have been invited to participate as observers.
The drill is slated the biggest exercise ever for the IAF with eight nations participating including Israel.
“It will be a massive exercise; the biggest ever for the IAF. Seven nations plus Israel,” Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, the Israeli Air Force's chief of international affairs said,
Of the seven confirmed participants, four have never before actively participated in Blue Flag, which began in 2013 and continued in 2015 as a four-way exercise involving Israel, the U.S., Greece and Poland.