Israeli and foreign fighter jets fly in formation over the Red Sea during the 'Blue Flag' exercise at Ovda Airfield near Eilat on October 27, 2015.Israel Air Force nullnull nullnull nullnull
Fighter jets from across the world took part in one of the largest aerial exercises conducted by Israel over the past week in the Arava desert.
The Israeli Air Force said on its official Facebook page that the 2015 Blue Flag exercise was the "biggest aerial exercise in the history of the IAF in which multiple foreign forces took part and practiced coalition flying in extreme scenarios."
The "Blue Flag" exercise, which began on 18 October will conclude on 3 November. The aerial war games pit the Israeli Air Force, the United States Air Force, Greece's Hellenic Air Force and the Polish Air Force against a fictional enemy state, an IAF officer-in-charge of the Blue Flag told The Times of Israel.
Several countries, including Germany, also sent pilots their and officers to observe the exercise, but did not participate in the games. This is the second time Israel is conducting an aerial wargame at such a large scale, the first aerial exercise was conducted in 2013.
According to The Aviationist, the Hellenic and Polish Air Force brought five F-16s for the joint aerial wargames. The US Air Force brought six F-15C, while Israeli air force used its F-15 Baz, F-16C/D Barak, F-16I Sufa and F-16A Netz aggressors during the aerial campaign.
The joint international coalition jets were given permission to use the entire Israeli air space, to fly through and fire simulated weapons on fictional enemy missile launchers, convoys and aircraft.
An IAF official told TOI that the aim of the joint mission was focused more on testing the skills of the men and women, than the capabilities of the fighter jets.
