MENA forces boost skills with exercises in Europe and the USA

The Qatari, Saudi and UAE air forces have been ramping up their tactical and integration skills with other air forces by participating in air exercises in Europe and the US. Alan Warnes reports.

Lockheed Martin F-16

One of the six UAEAF&AD Lockheed Martin F-16s that attended Red Flag 25-2 blasts off the Nellis AFB runway in Nevada. This example is a dual seat F-16F. IMAGE: USAF

From February 24 to March 14, the Royal Saudi Air Force deployed six Boeing F-15SA Eagles from 6 Squadron based at King Khalid Air Base, Khamis Mushayt, to RAF Waddington in the UK for Exercise Cobra Warrior, the largest exercise run by the RAF.

They were among 50 or so aircraft that participated in drills that primarily used to qualify new qualified weapons instructors (QWIs). It was effectively a coalition of France, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the UK according to exercise director group captain Jim Calvert.

Over the three-week period, there were 12 missions that grew in complexity as the exercise progressed.

The first week concentrated on air to air training, when Blue Air took on Red Air, while offensive counter air and and surface attack missions took place in the second week before moving to dynamic targetting, personal recovery and long-range air interdiction strikes.

Most of the missions took place over the North Sea.

According to the RSAF deputy commander, lieutenant colonel Faisal Turki, his personnel had been "working hard hand in hand, wing tip to wing tip with our colleagues of the RAF.

"This is the first time we came here with the F-15s, so it's a different environment than what we have in the region and at home."

In March, the RSAF sent six Eurofighter Typhoon F2/T3s to the Red Flag exercise at Nellis AFB, Nevada where the United Arab Emirates Air Force were flying six Lockheed Martin F-16E/Fs.

Red Flag is undoubtedly the biggest exercise, where pilots can train in the toughest air combat training environments.

Pilots hone their war-fighting skills, testing their tactical expertise in realistic and complex, large-scale air missions.

Running from March 10-21, 2025, Red Flag 25-2 saw the participation of 1,500 participants from 15 squadrons representing the RSAF, UAEAF&AD, Turkish Air Force, US Air Force and US Marine Corps.

The Qatari Emir Air Force sent four Boeing F-15QA Eagles, while the UAEAF&AD sent four Dassault Mirage 2000-9s to Exercise Iniochos, an annual multinational air exercise hosted by the Hellenic Air Force at Andravida AB, western Greece between March 14 - April 13.

Related content