Warplanes from France, Germany, India, and Italy will join the United States and Greece to take part in the largest air exercises ever hosted by the Israeli Air Force.
As in past exercises, the event this year will feature hundreds of sorties throughout Israeli airspace to include air-to-air and ground attacks on fixed and moving targets, as well as exercises aimed at improving pilots’ skills in avoiding surface-to-air missile threats from air defense systems and shoulder-fired weapons.
“People are seeing there’s a lot to learn from Israel. In our tiny airspace and in the environment around us, things are so intense. The Russians are here. … Many of the world’s air forces are passing through here on their way to operations in Syria and elsewhere in the region. So we provide a sort of battle lab in which forces can hone a spectrum of skills needed to combat growing threats,” said Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, the IAF’s international affairs chief.
The drills are scheduled to last for two weeks and will involve at least 100 aircraft.
The exercises come as Israeli planes continue to carry out sorties against weapons convoys in Syria, which is upsetting to Russia.
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