Iniochos 2024
The multinational aerial combat Εxercise Iniochos 2024, took place from Monday 28th of March until Thursday 7th of April, at the Andravida Air Base. I was invited for the press day at March 31st. During the exercise, complex air missions such as Offensive Counter Air (OCA), Air Defense Operations (ADO), Counter Surface Force Operations (CSFO) including Air Power Contribution to Land Ops (APCLO) and Air Power Contribution to Maritime Ops (APCMO), Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) and Combat Search & Rescue, in a dynamic realistic combat environment, were carried out.
F16I Sufa from Israeli AF pictured on the taxitrack at Andravidha AB during Iniochos 2024
Among the aircraft attending Iniochos this year, there were also 11x F-16I Sufa belonging to the 201 and 253 Sqn of the Israeli Air Force’s Sufa Division at Ramon AB; 7x Tornado (4x IDS and 3x ECR variants) from the 6th Stormo, Italian Air Force, based in Ghedi AB; 9x F-15E Strike Eagles belonging to the 48th Fighter Wing from RAF Lakenheath, The MQ-9 Reaper operating from Souda AB at Crete. UK; 2x Slovenian PC-9M from the Air Force Military School at Letalska Sola; a Cypriot AW-139, as well as a number of F-16Cs, F-4Es, 6x Mirage 2000-5BGs belonging to various squadrons of the HAF.
Participating aircraft conducting more than 1038 flights day and night throughout the Athens FIR range, aiming the reinforce of the collaboration among the participant countries in a effective, secure and substantial way. The exercise “includes the full spectrum of missions that sees crews operating in a complex and congested air environment. These include Air operations against an Integrated Air Defence System, Anti-Surface Warfare and Combat Search and Rescue. Participating personnel are exposed to an intensive battle rhythm with challenging scenarios with multiple modern threats and real-time live injects which improve interoperability, while building a stronger and more agile Alliance,” says the NATO Allied Air Command exercise.
In the exercise also participated Army and Navy forces, as well as personnel from Albania, Austria, Croatia, Egypt, India, Kuwait, Morocco, North Macedonia, Serbia and the United Kingdom. Thanks to the hospitality of the General Staff Hellenic Airforce and the Dutch Embassy this was a great event. Hope to see you next year...
