On the runway of the 115th Fighter Wing in Souda, the ten American F-35s and the ten American F-15s began to take off from Thursday morning and return to their bases.
They stayed in Souda for about 10 days and left their mark. The bilateral Interdisciplinary Joint Training of Greece and the USA with the name “POSEIDON’S RAGE 22”, which took place in various regions of the country and is the second of its series, has come to an end.
This time, as A/GETHA general Konstantinos Floros said “the wrath of Poseidon was heavy”, very heavy, after the American and Greek fighters carried out exercises in the entire spectrum of the Athens FIR, including the airspace south of Crete, essentially dismantling the Makhtseli map that defiantly presented Aegean islands as Turkish as well as Crete.
It was an exercise that he received for the first time in Greek territory after the signing of the Greek-American defense agreement. It was also an exercise in which for the first time operational training took place with the combined use of 3rd, 4th and 5th Generation fighter aircraft, the deployment of an entire US Fighter Squadron to another base namely Souda Air Base, and the execution of training fires by fighters F-35 aircraft in the US European Command (USEUCOM) area of responsibility.
It was yet another Greek-American exercise that greatly annoyed the Turks, when Greek and American aircraft flew wing to wing in the Aegean. An exercise that did not leave the head of the Air Force, Rear Admiral (I) Themistocles Bourolias, who “descended” in Souda, put on his anti-G suit and participated in an aerial combat training flight of 2 F-16 Block 52+ against 2 F- 35. Important experience, said the GEA staff.
The Joint Training was a LIVEX (Live Exercise) type and aimed to train the participants in advanced cross-branch operational scenarios of escalating intensity and complexity in a multiple threat environment, to increase the combat capability and improve the level of interoperability of the Greek and US Armed Forces.
From the Hellenic Armed Forces, F-16, Mirage-2000/5 and F-4 (Phantom) fighter aircraft participated in the exercise, which carried out a total of 121 sorties, air support elements with terminal fire guidance (Joint Tactical Air Controller – JTAC), as well as the frigate (F/C) HELLI and the high-speed guided missile patrol boat (MPK) KARATHANASIS. F-15 and F-35 fighter jets participated from the US Air Force, which made a total of 243 sorties.
