A total of 36 fighter aircraft from nine countries and more than 70 Greek aircraft “answer” the question, why the exercise “Honeymooner” is perhaps the largest aviation training exercise in the Old Continent.
From the above numbers alone, it can be concluded that the number of take-offs from the 117 Battle Wing in Andravida, from April 8 and for 10 days, will exceed 100. And this figure shows an additional element, that foreign missions seek participation in almost all exercise scenarios, which gives them the opportunity to meet in the air with the “Greek air elite”.
The 2024 “Honeymoon” is where all modern 4th and 4.5 generation fighters meet, creating the interoperable grid that scenario designers always seek.
The “locked” parts of the FIR will see the Rafale twin-engine aircraft of France and Qatar, the F-18s of the Spanish, the Eurofighter Typhoon of the Saudis and the British. Greek, American and, for the first time, Romanian F-16s will also operate there.
In addition, as “Honeymoon” has become an interdisciplinary exercise, Austria and Portugal will participate in the exercise with Intelligence and Special Forces personnel, while Germany will send an observer team.
Monday 08/04 was one of the days when the execution of the scenarios already agreed by the participating countries actually starts. The so-called “family” or familiarization flights had started with the arrival of the missions, where the airmen from the allied countries had the opportunity to experience the “terrain masking” in the dream environment offered by the Vouraikou gorge. Crossing at low altitude through the canyon is an exercise that could be described as “flying under the radar” with the help of the masking offered by the mountainous terrain.
There are three important assets for the “Inecho”: the French flying radar, the Greek radar and the US MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle.
