The Royal Netherlands Air Force (Koninklijke Luchtmacht) was recently deployed to Carlisle Airport in Northern England on May 15 to undertake a three-week exercise called Tac Blaze.
The main focus of the exercise was to conduct tactical flying against the surface-to-air threats of RAF Spadeadam, Europe’s only electronic warfare (EW) training facility.
RAF Spadeadam is an aggressor squadron, which provides threat replication and hosts a variety of former Warsaw Pact and modern real-world surface-to-air systems, as well as simulated and emulated systems for aircraft and their crew to hone their skills.
This training, along with the terrain of Northern England, provided an opportunity for the Royal Netherlands Air Force to train in an environment that wouldn’t be achievable in the Netherlands. It’s a vital cornerstone to the helicopter force’s operational capabilities.
Four Boeing CH-47F Chinooks from 298 Squadron, two AS532U2 Cougar Mk.IIs from 300 Squadron, and five AH-64D Apaches from 301 Squadron were deployed, along with an extensive ground support team. There was a crew rotation halfway through the exercise to maximize the number of crews trained over the deployment.
Several sorties took place each day, initially focusing on individual aircraft “fighting” the RAF Spadeadam systems. This then developed into small formation work before culminating all skills learned to operate larger full tactical formation flights. These flights simulated operating in a hostile environment and evading and defeating hostile surface-to-air threats using countermeasures, terrain and offensive action from the Apache force to achieve mission success.
The Royal Netherlands Air Force had been conducting exercise Tac Blaze for many years until the last deployment in 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic saw the exercise postponed until this year.
