Multinational Air Drill Iniochos 23 Kicks Off in Greece

India’s air force is participating for the first time in the multinational air drill Iniochos 23 that kicked off in Greece on Monday.

The exercise includes elements from Greece, France, the US, Italy, Saudi Arabia, India, Spain, Jordan, Slovenia, and Cyprus with various aerial vehicles including fighter jets, drones, helicopters, training planes, and joint terminal attack controller teams, according to a statement by the Greek National Defense General Staff.

India’s Sukhoi fighter jets (Su-30 MKI) and C17 Globemaster aircraft have reached Greece for the first time to participate in the exercise.

Indian Air Force contingent arrived to participate in the multinational Exercise #Iniochos2023 at Andravida, Greece 🇬🇷. Historic day, first ever landing of Su30 at this base in South Greece, all contingents ceased work to watch the big birds roll on to the tarmac.. 🛬 @IAF_MCC pic.twitter.com/wdTgJBicQE

— India in Greece (@EmbIndiaAthens) April 21, 2023

Observers from Germany, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Montenegro, Bahrain, Slovakia, and Tunisia will also monitor the exercise, it added.

The elements are to be stationed in the Andravida Air Base in southwestern Greece but exercises will be held in the wider area of Athens flight information region.

History of Iniochos exercise

The Iniochos exercise was first conducted in the late 1980s, as a small scale tactical level exercise, tailored to the contemporary necessity for training in combined air operations in accordance with the Hellenic Air Force Doctrine. Over the next years, the success of the exercise led to the decision on establishing it as an annual event.

The exercise objective was to train personnel in planning and execution of Combined Air Operations (COMAO) in accordance with the HAF Doctrine and National Plans in a realistic environment, in order to test and evaluate operational plans and tactics.

For the execution and conduction of the Exercise, the Hellenic Fighter Weapons School was deployed to Larissa, so as to form the White Cell in the facilities of the National Center for Air Operations. The White Cell was responsible for the optimal coordination and planning of the operations, while participating Aircrafts were also deployed to Larissa, at 110CW, from where they launched for their missions.

In 2005, the Exercise was decentralized, thus the participating Aircrafts were operating from their mother bases, while the White Cell, the planning and the coordination were taking place in the Air Tactics Center and the Fighter Weapons School facilities, in Andravida Air Force Base, implementing newly acquired means of Command and Control.

In November 2013, the decision was made to adopt a Single Base Concept, upgrading the exercise scale to medium and expanding the spectrum of operations with the objective to create a more realistic and demanding environment, with an intensive and prolonged 24/7 battle rhythm, significantly increasing the level of training.

In April 2015, the exercise is being held for the first time in the form of INVITEX (Invitation Exercise), with the participation of the IAF and the USAFE Special Forces (SOF) as JTAC.

In 2022, there was the greatest participation from the U.S. Armed Forces, including the F-15s from Lakenheath Air Base, the F-18s flying off the Harry Truman, and an MQ-9 flying from Sigonella in Italy.