Exercise Brilliant Arrow 2013
Oerland Main Air Station, Norway
Diary
22 August 2013
Hot Preparation Phase of Exercise Brilliant Arrow 2013 Starts
This Thursday the first of the 44 Allied aircraft from nine NATO nations participating in Exercise Brilliant Arrow (BAW) 13 touched down at Oerland Main Air Station, Norway, their deployment base for the coming two weeks.
Besides Turkish and Portuguese F-16 fighter aircraft and their counterparts from Norway, for which Oerland is the home base, additional transport aircraft landed delivering materiel for logistic support of the international detachments.
In the afternoon the touch-down of a British airborne early warning E-3D was something out of the ordinary for the fighter airbase. A total of two Airborne Warning and Control System or AWACS aircraft will be flying during BAW13 to provide command and control for the aircraft operating out of Oerland. The second French E-3F as well as the remaining jets and support aircraft will arrive here over the weekend.
25 August 2013
Over the weekend the remaining flying assets for the NATO exercise Brilliant Arrow 2013 (BAW13) arrived at the Oerland Main Air Station (MAS) in a second wave. The whole deployment of aircraft that began with a first wave on Thursday went smoothly and well-coordinated. The host nation tower personal guided all aircraft – a French E-3F airborne early warning aircraft, German Tornado, French Mirage 2000 and Polish, Greek and Portuguese F-16 fighters as well as various support aircraft from participating nations – were professionally guided to their apron positions.
Ground crews from the respective nations were waiting to embed their aircraft, as on the previous day, to conduct maintenance work and aircraft checks during the whole weekend supported by host nation.
Over the weekend the remaining flying assets for the NATO exercise Brilliant Arrow 2013 (BAW13) arrived at Oerland Main Air Station (MAS) in a second wave. The whole deployment of aircraft that began with a first wave on Thursday went smoothly and well-coordinated. The host nation tower personal guided all aircraft – a French E-3F airborne early warning aircraft, German Tornado, French Mirage 2000 and Polish, Greek and Portuguese F-16 fighters as well as various support aircraft from participating nations and three Norwegian Bell 412 – professionally to their apron positions.
Ground crews from the respective nations were waiting to receive and embed their aircraft to conduct maintenance work and aircraft checks during the whole weekend supported by host nation.
A total of 700 persons from nine nations have been deployed to Oerland MAS for BAW13 supported by some 200 staff from the Host Nation. From 10 a. m. on Monday morning the first wave of Allied aircraft will take off to their operational areas in northern and central Norway via assigned aerial corridors – and the execution of BAW13 will start.
26 August 2013
BAW 13 – Ready for take off
At 9:30 a.m. today, the French Air Force E-3F airborne early warning platform took off from Oerland Main Air Station as the first aircraft during NATO exercise Brilliant Arrow 13 (BAW13). A 31 fighter and support aircraft received their mission tasking and launched marking the start of BAW13. The mandatory operational briefings for the detachments were conducted the day before. An opportunity for BAW13 exercise director Colonel Frank Gerards, Royal Netherlands Air Force, and his Norwegian deputy, Lieutenant Colonel Hans Jørgen Nordskog, to welcome the participants from nine NATO nations.
After months of preparations by the responsible exercise planners at NATO’s Headquarters Allied Air Command (HQ AIRCOM), the long awaited execution phase of this multinational exercise has now begun. Each day some 80 so-called sorties, i. e. take offs and landings, are scheduled during which fighter and support aircraft will train various air-to-air and air-to-ground scenarios.
During BAW13 the focus is on providing qualified training of air crews and the exercise director underlines that the entire live flying will take place in a safe manner. “We are well prepared,” says Colonel Gerards, “so let’s get going!”
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