Indian, Finnish and Saudi Arabian forces at RAF Waddington for the first time
RAF Waddington are currently hosting a high intensity training, known as exercise Cobra Warrior which had international forces visit the site
Exercise Cobra Warrior is run biannually and is the largest air exercise run by the Royal Air Force. The exercise is designed to train exercise participants in high intensity large force tactical air war fighting operations.
The exercise will take place from the 2 till the 24 March and will see over 70 aircraft taking part and is being controlled by directing staff at RAF Waddington.
Taking part this year for the first time are contingents from the Finnish, Indian and Royal Saudi Air Forces.
We were invited to speak with the different forces and pilots.
We heard from the Exercise Director, from the Air and Space Warfare Centre, Group Captain Jim Calvert, that described the exercise as "
"What Cobra Warrior provides us is what we call collective training. So, what nations and squadrons will do is train their crews to be tactical experts on their individual platform. What an exercise such as Cobra Warrior does is it brings all of those platforms together, both the UK and partner nations, and it just allows us to train and integrate together, so that we can prove, test and adjust and enhance our inter-operability.
"So, it is a very dynamic exercise in itself and we have all our partner nations fulfilling leadership roles within the mission plan and execution. Any one of the six participating nations is in charge of coming up with the tactic and they then formulate that tactic and all of the nations are involved in the plan. They'll come up with that plan collectively, looking to exploit all of the particular capabilities that everyone brings to the party and that's the learning really.
"The executions the fun bit, the bit where we're testing our capabilities to war fight. But it's in the planning where we learn so much."
The Officer Commanding at RAF Waddington, Wing Commander William Whitechurch, also said that it "adds a real buzz around the station":
"Here at RAF Waddington we host two exercise Cobra Warriors a year, alongside all the other activity we do in terms of supporting the Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance force and obviously now being the home for the Red Arrows. So it's a great opportunity for us to showcase what the Royal Air Force can do, in terms of synchronising all that activity and being able to still deliver support to operations like helping the Reds prepare for their display season and on top of that deliver this exercise at the same time.
"It's great to welcome international partners here, it definitely adds a different perspective and actually adds a real buzz around the station, particularly for a lot of our junior personnel who are perhaps straight out of training, they've only just joined the Royal Air Force and they haven't had the opportunity to deploy on exercises of operations. This gives them a feeling and a flavour of what it's like to operate at that higher tempo.
"It's a great opportunity for us, we love welcoming a range of nations each time, it's usually a different set of nations that come every time, so it's a real opportunity. Hopefully it puts a little bit back into the local community, obviously with most of the nations staying in the local area, so hopefully it adds a little bit to Lincoln and the wider region itself."
The Saudis will be flying six Typhoons from RAF Coningsby.
A spokesperson from the Royal Saudi Arabia Air Force detailed what it means for them to be here:
"For Saudi Air Force we deployed here with six Typhoons. We are deployed to RAF Coningsby and we work from their but conduct the planning here.
"It's a great opportunity, flying in different weather, totally different to Saudi Arabia weather, and having the experience especially for us guys it's great.
"It's our second deployment for the typhoon to the UK, the first one it was in 2013. Our plan for last year was cancelled, there was a cancellation for the whole exercise, and we are glad to be here, with the others and sharing the experience."
The Indian Air Force will be flying five Mirage 2000 jets supported in the air-to-air fuelling from RAF Brize Norton.
Group Captain M Gangola, Team Leader, from the Indian Air Force told us what it's like to be here:
"We've come about 4,500 odd miles form India, we're participating in the exercise with five Mirage 2000 IDAs. The Indian air force has been participating across the globe, and it's been a long time since we were last in the UK.
"The last time an Indian contingent were in the UK was in 2015.
"It's been a bit of a break for us after Covid, but it is really fantastic to be back here in the UK, participating in a truly multi-national exercise. So I think it's a fantastic opportunity for us to be a part of this, and to learn as we continue with this exercise."
Flight Lieutenant Yashwant Singh is one of the Pilots for the Indian Air Force, he says:
"Lincolnshire is a beautiful place. But the weather is so different, it's very chilly, and in India it's very hot at this time of year.
"I have been a pilot for around 3 years now, the last two years with the Mirages. It is adventurous, it is very nice in the air. We get to do a lot of things in the air that a lot of others are not able to do.
"It is similar to things we do back home, most of the procedures and the flying, but we're getting to know more about the allies, how they plan and everything so it is a good experience."
Also, based at RAF Waddington will be Belgian Air Force F-16s and Finnish Air Force F-18 Hornets.
Captain Glassen, F16 Scat, Director Operations at 349 Squadron Belgium Air Force, says he was meant to take part last year, which was cancelled because of the war in Ukraine. He says, so far, he's been impressed:
"On behalf of the Belgium Air Force, of course we are also really excited to participate in this mission. We didn't come from as far as India but we came with six F16s and about 90 personnel of which are 13 pilots.
"This exercise really helps us to learn and to be able to fly together with other nations, and to coordinate together, plan the mission together, and then fly the mission together which is really unusual for us, in a really huge air space that we don't have in Belgium.
"We would have initially participated last year, but due to Covid, unfortunately, it got cancelled so we're really excited to participate in this years' mission."
The Finnish participation is part of a wider training activity in support of the UK led Joint Expeditionary Force, that is known as JEF Warrior.
Lieutenant Colonel Rikkinen Midget, of 31 Squadron F18, Finnish Air Force, tells us more:
"We came here with six F18 from the 31st and 11th fighter squad, and as far as I know, this is the first time we have been deployed to the UK.
"So it' great to be here; we're looking forward to the big Cobra Warrior waves, and also the training on those CT missions.
"We brought a lot of guys that haven't been on international exercises before, because of Covid, so this is a great opportunity for those guys to get in touch with other nations, fly with and against other aircraft. So it's going to be a great experience for us."
With several UK RAF stations playing key roles in the exercise, like RAF Brize Norton who are supplying RAF Voyagers to conduct air-to-air Tanking operations for the fast jets.
In addition, UK Joint Helicopter command aircraft will be based at RAF Leeming and participating in the exercise.
The RAF’s Air Mobility Force will also be taking part in the exercise deploying elements of 16 Air Assault Brigade during an associated ground mission that forms part of the overall exercise scenario.
Officer Commanding 92 Squadron, Squadron Leader John McFadden, from the squadron that coordinates this exercise said:
“We are looking forward to delivering Exercise Cobra Warrior 23-1. 92 Sqn have developed a challenging Air-led multi-domain exercise focussed on pitting our NATO, JEF and International partners against a capable peer adversary within a contested degraded and operationally limited threat environment.”
One other key aspect of the exercise is that it gives the opportunity to complete the training within the Mission Employment Phase for future RAF Weapons Instructors.
The level of training combined with the variety of training partners helps to achieve the required standards within the Weapons School Criteria.