Every year for the last 25 years or so, around the start of spring, jets start to congregate like migratory birds in the north of the Netherlands, attracting spotters and photographers from all over Europe. We’re talking about the annual exercise Frisian Flag of course, taking place at The Royal Netherlands Air Force Base Leeuwarden. Like the other “Flag” exercises (Red Flag, Green Flag) the Frisian variety is all about large scale battle scenarios involving both a large contingent of air assets engaged in air to air and air to ground missions, as well as land based assets, attacking as well as defending certain positions and areas.
The main goal of this large scale exercise is enhancing the leadership skills on all levels through exposure to realistic large scale mission scenarios, working together with international partners towards successful execution and thorough evaluation and analysis. These experiences are an invaluable training aid as preparation for real world deployments and engagements. This goal has been a constant since the start of the Frisian Flag exercises.
And this year’s edition was no different. Around 50 airplanes of 8 different countries took part in two missions per day for a total of 10 days, with all crews flying both blue (the good guys and red air (the bad guys) missions. The jets were supported by tankers taking part in the EART exercise flying from Eindhoven Air Base to the south. Surface to air units from both the Dutch and German Army / Air Force took part as both surface defense as well as threat assets. German and Dutch surface radar supplied a nice overall picture for all the participants through their air controlling from the ground, while a NATO AWACS unit assisted in this aspect from the air. Each day a morning and afternoon mission was flow, each wave containing around 40 jets. This means a fast turn around from planning, briefing, flying to debriefing to analysis and evaluation. This is standard operating procedure for Frisian Flag.
What has changed over the years though are the scenarios and actors involved. New factors are influencing tactics and strategy in today’s Air Forces. From working together with new, non NATO partners, to deploying to a threat zone on very short notice while having to rely on an ever shrinking asset pool, today’s Air Forces have to do a lot more with a lot less. Just have a look at the Dutch Air Force. At the moment they are deployed in the Baltic for the NATO Air Policing Mission and might be engaged through a deployment next year, according to Base Commander Col. Denny Traas during the press briefing at Leeuwarden Air Base. At the same time they have to defend the Dutch air space together with the Belgian Air Force, while also keeping their standards up through training at Red Flag this year and starting the transition process to the new F-35 Lightning II, replacing the aging F-16 Fighting Falcon. All this on a tiny budget, while also organizing a large scale exercise like Frisian Flag. That’s a lot to handle, especially when you know you can be called upon on short notice to help contain a situation somewhere around the world.
This of course goes for every participant in Frisian Flag and it’s the main reason why Frisian Flag is such a popular exercise. By working efficiently together, participating units can gain valuable experience not available nor attainable through their day to day training at their home base. And they can do so right here in one of the biggest training air spaces available in Europe. The air space is a combined area of Dutch, Danish and German air space to the north of Leeuwarden Air Base providing yet another level on multi-national training.
List of participants
In their briefing both Col. Denny Traas and Capt. Remco (Supervising Organiser of the 322 Tactical Training Evaluation and Standardisation Squadron) talked about focusing more on high intensity conflict scenarios during this year’s edition of Frisian Flag, and less on asymmetrical threats. One only has to look at the posture Russia has taken over the last several years to realize NATO and its allies need to be able to react in a clear and decisive manner to this type of posturing, protecting member states and friendly nations.
Another point of focus this year was air to air combat training. During Red Flag already a major training aspect for the Dutch pilots participating, brushing up on air to air skills is crucial after being tasked with ground support missions and deployments for such a long time. And how to train better than against the main air defense asset of the last 40 years, the mighty F-15 Eagle.
Participating this year, as part of their deployment through the Theatre Security Package in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve, was the 122nd Expeditionary Fighter Squadron, comprised of Louisiana and Florida Air National Guard aircraft and members. During the first 3 months of this 6 month deployment the Louisiana Air National Guard will be deployed. The latter 3 months will be flown by the Florida Air National Guard unit.
14 year Eagle veteran, Lt. Col. Daniel 'Deuce' Fischer, Commanding Officer of the 122 FS, stated they requested an earlier deployment start so they could attend Frisian Flag, having heard about it from other units and really wanting to be part of it. After weather related delays the planes arrived just in time and with little time to get acquainted with the Dutch air space jumped right into the action. They will fly purely air to air roles during the missions and will stay at Leeuwarden Air Base after the exercise ends, for most of April, hoping to engage and train with nearby units. From Leeuwarden they will head east to one of the eastern NATO member states. The main goal of this TSP deployment is enhance interoperability between NATO partners and training the less experienced pilots in a different environment and large scale missions, “dealing with the fog and friction of war”, as ‘Deuce’ stated. Frisian Flag provides a natural lead in to such a deployment.
As for the future of Frisian Flag? There were rumors there would not be a 2018 and 2019 edition because of the transition to the F-35. But Col. Denny Traas stated there would be a yearly Frisian Flag for the foreseeable future and was looking forward to the integration of new systems like the F-35 and MQ-9 in the mission scenarios. He looks to the US or UK for possible participation with the Lightning II’s since they are the furthest along in their operational deployment of the F-35. The Royal Netherlands Air Force will receive their first home based F-35’s in 2019/20. This could mean a hiatus in the annual exercise schedule, due to work up to Operational Capability of the F-35 in the Royal Netherlands Air Force in 2021.
It makes sense to have these new assets available during the exercise since there will be a long transition period where there are 4th and 5th generation systems operating together in the same environment. The sooner you start training under those circumstances the sooner you know how to get the most out of that generational combination. And that is what Frisian Flag is about. Work together planning, executing, analyzing and evolving.
