Exercise INIOHOS 2016

On April 4 to 14, the Hellenic Air Force hosted a medium-sized multinational exercise named "Iniohos 2016" at the base of 117 Combat Wing in Andravida, home of the Greek Phantoms.

In this exercise the HAF along with the two other participating Air Forces took advantage of some of the most suitable and at the same time most challenging airspace in Europe for conducting these large scale air operations, a wide variety of air defense systems and remarkable mix of modern aircraft and ordnance combined with considerably experienced crews.

During the ten days, the Hellenic Air Force launched fighters from all Tactical Air Commands and with the other two participating Air Arms accumulated a total of over 700 sorties, day and night. In the exercise's scenarios strike packages faced all available air defense systems, provided by all branches. The HAF cooperated with aerial assets from the Hellenic Army and the Hellenic Navy. All together they struck various target types, ranging from tanks and frigates to air bases or other high-value assets.

Greece is the perfect place for hosting such exercises since the rough terrain of Greece in combination with the Aegean Sea offers a great landscape for mission planners and crews to simulate different kinds of scenarios. Also, there are no densely populated areas and no competing air traffic to compromise the realism and the quality of training. Another encouraging factor is the excellent weather of Greece which offers the ability to fly and train at all altitude.

The "Iniohos" exercise dates back to the late 80s, when it was established as a small scale air warfare exercise with only aircraft of the HAF. Initially the participating aircraft were deployed to 110 CW in Larisa, but in later years each aircraft operated from its home base. In 2005, “Iniohos” was transformed into a medium scale exercise, involving all three branches of the Hellenic Armed Forces. On November 2013, the Single Base Concept was adopted for Iniohos and the selected host for this kind of event was 117 CW at Andravida air base. It was also decided that “Iniohos” would become an Invitex exercise, meaning that other nations could be invited to participate in the exercise.

Last year, both the Israeli Air Force and USAF Europe accepted this invitation and deployed to Greece to take part in "Iniohos 2015". Obviously the results were beneficial for all them as they both returned to Andravida this year to participate for a second time. This year, in addition to the major participation by almost all HAF Squadrons, there were twelve Israeli F-16C/D Fighting Falcons from different squadrons and one Gulfstream 550 for the Airborne Early Warning & Control role (AEW&C), along with the two Greek EMB-145H aircraft. Also an E-3A AWACS from the NATO AEW&C Flight was orbiting the exercise areas contributing in this role as well. For the second consecutive year, twelve USAFE F-15E Strike Eagles deployed to Andravida along with approximately 260 airmen from the 492nd Fighter Squadron of the 48th Combat Wing based at RAF Lakenheath, UK.

Bilateral cooperation between USAFE as well as Israeli AF and the HAF has been rehearsed many times in the past and has proven excellent. Both air arms have many similar traits to the HAF so joint composite operations can be accomplished. The French Air Force was also invited, but due to operational commitments including the operations in Syria, they were not able to participate. There were however some French military officials to observe the exercise with great interest and who assured Greek officials that they will be coming to Andravida next year.

Each day a different mission in a different warfare scenario was flown. On a single day more than 120 sorties were made in six different waves. Two in the morning, two in the afternoon, one in the evening and one during the night. Some of the missions were:

• Counter Air Operations
• Fighter Sweep
• Anti-Surface Force Air Operations.
• Combat Search And Rescue (CSAR).
• Interdiction of Air Defenses
• Air strikes against high value targets

During the exercise, flight crews of the three nations, air defense systems personnel, and Special Ops members exchanged their views and ideas. Despite the fact that they speak different operational languages, they share common objectives. The results of “Iniohos” exercise 2016 have been excellent and once again the conclusions was drawn that this kind of exercise helps improving the joint operations capabilities. Chief of Hellenic Air Force General Staff, Lieutenant General Christos Vaitsis clearly stated that the goal is for "Iniohos" to become the largest multinational exercise in the European theatre.