Exercise INIOHOS 2018

On March the 12th until the 23rd, the Hellenic Air Force hosted the medium-sized multinational exercise named Iniohos at the base of 117 Combat Wing in Andravida, home of the Greek Phantoms.

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

The exercise's objective is to provide realistic training, the HFWS (Hellenic Fighter Weapons School) oversees the missions from scenario planning to debriefing and makes certain that they cover the full spectrum of missions currently performed by the HAF.

This year’s edition of Iniohos was attended by a wide variety of combat aircraft from 7 nations (including Greece). Among them:

• 6 Mirage 2000-9EAD/DAD belonging to the 71 Sqn of the UAE AF&AD from Al Dhafra along with 100 people personnel.
• 4 F-16C “Barak 2020” of the 117th Sqn "First Jet" of the Israeli AF from Ramat David
• 6 Tornado IDS from the 102° and the 154° Gruppi of the 6° Stormo of the Italian Air Force from Ghedi along with 90 people personnel.
• 6 Typhoon FGR4 from 3 Sqn from RAF Coningsby along with 140 people personnel.
• 13 F-15E Strike Eagle from 492FS of the 48nd FW from RAF Lakenheath along with 300 people personnel!

The HAF utilized more than 30 F-16s belonging to various squadrons, 4 F-4Es, 4 Mirage 2000s and 1 EMB-145H AEW&C, while Cyprus was the last participant with the utilization of a single AW-139 helicopter. Also an E-3A AWACS from the NATO AEW&C was deployed to Aktion AB and was orbiting over the exercise areas contributing in this role.

The unique feature of this year’s Iniohos exercise is that during its duration the invited Air Arms cooperated with aerial, surface and sea assets of the Hellenic Army and the Hellenic Navy which at the same time were combining their own exercises "Ormi" and "Astrapi" and utilized many other assets like ships, helicopters, tanks etc.

Check back later for the full photo report!