This year’s Real Thaw exercise – the ninth – involved aircraft from almost every squadron in the Força Aérea Portuguesa (FAP, Portuguese Air Force). Jorge Ruivo watched the action.
EXERCISE REPORT
Real Thaw 2017
REAL THAW 2017 – planned and conducted by the Portuguese Air Command – took place from March 5 to 17, its main objective to evaluate and certify the operational capability of air power in a multinational joint training environment.
The exercise also set out to prepare forces for international missions in operational scenarios and to develop interoperability between countries and their armed forces. Overall it involved around 1,000 military personnel and 35 aircraft.
FAP participants included F-16AMs from Monte Real, P-3C Orion, Alpha Jet and Alouette III aircraft from Beja itself and C-130 and C295M Persuader aircraft from Montijo. Other air assets came from Portugal’s navy and army plus Belgium, Denmark, France, NATO, the Netherlands, Spain and the United States.
Covering air, sea and land scenarios, the exercise aimed to provide a realistic environment as close as possible to current theatres of operation and adapted to the training needs of the various armed forces.
US participation
US Air Force…
