Gripens and JTACs on the Exercise
Szöveg: 1st Lt. Dávid Bakcsi | 2013. június 3. 9:27Preparations have started for the multinational exercise “Adriatic Strike 2013” to be held in Slovenia. The Hungarian Defence Forces will send JAS–39 Gripen fighters and Joint Terminal Attack Controllers (JTACs) to participate in the event between 3 and 7 June.
The exercise objective is to develop cooperation between the participating nations in the execution of Close Air Support (CAS) operations.
In the spirit of preparation, the Slovenian armed forces (SAF) launched their JTAC course at Cerklje Air Base on May 13. Besides Austrian, Montenegrin and Sloven students, the attendees include one candidate JTAC from the HDF 34th “Bercsényi László" Special Forces Battalion, and a JTAC instructor, as officer in charge of the training session, from the HDF 86th Szolnok Helicopter Base.
After two weeks of academic training, this week the participating soldiers have started to execute hands-on tasks with support from the PC–9 aircraft of the Slovenian Air Force. Apart from the representatives of the above-mentioned nations, the exercise – which is scheduled to start on June 3 – will be attended by JTACs from Croatia, Italy and France.
The fixed-wing aircraft will include US F–16s, Hungarian JAS–39s, Slovenian PC–9s, Austrian PC–7s and Italian AMXs, while the helicopters Slovenian Bell–206s and Bell–412s, Italian A–129s, US AH–64s and UH–60s as well as Austrian OH–58s in the Close Air Support (CAS) role.
As it is known, according to plans the Hungarian Defence Forces are going to deploy fourth-generation Gripen combat aircraft and their Hungarian pilots to join the Air Policing mission in Slovenia as part of the NATO Integrated Air Defence System (NATINADS).
