Frisian Flag 2008

At Leeuwarden Air Base the international exercise Frisian Flag 2008 was held between March 31st until April 11th. Aim of the exercise is that the participating pilots learn to work in complex international missions. Frisian Flag 08 is an exercise of pilots, for pilots, where taking tactical decisions stands by the pilots (operators) first. The hosting squadron, 323 TACTESS (TACtical training, Evaluation and Standardisation Squadron), organises this exercise already many years.

Germany participated with the F-4 Phantom in de Air Defense Role. The French Armée de l'Air provided a set of four new Dassault Rafales which are just recently operational at Saint Dizier. From the Belgian base Florennes a number of F-16`s were delegated to Leeuwarden. The Norwegian Air Force sent a Falcon 20 for electronic warfare training.

During the exercise the Link16 connections between planes mutually and between a ground station was used. Spider in the web was the NDMC (National Datalink Managent Cell) a mixed unit of Army, Navy and Air Force. All participating planes send radar images to NDMC, whereupon the NDMC makes an overview of the general situation in the air and on the ground which is send to the planes. This way all participants get information on large distance (far out of reach of their own radar system).

During the almost two weeks, all participants will qualify themselves in training defensive and offensive tasks in realistic scenario, where the emphasis will lie on taking tactical decisions on operator level and the integration of all available resources and systems.