Multinational Air Drill Iniochos 2024 Commences in Greece

A huge multinational air drill Iniochos 2024 kicked off in the Andravida Air Base in Greece on Monday with a record number of fighter aircraft and helicopters in the history of the exercise.

The Hellenic Air Force is participating with many air assets, such as fighters, including Rafale and F-16 Viper, Air Defence Systems, helicopters, and transport and training aircraft.

Additionally, Hellenic Army, Navy, and Special Operations assets and personnel will contribute significantly to creating complex and realistic scenarios across the exercise areas that spread over the Greek mainland and seas.

The nations that participate in Iniochos 2024 include:

Cyprus with an AW139 Helicopter
France with Rafales and E-3F
Montenegro with an B-414 Helicopter
Qatar with Rafales
Romania with F-16s
Saudi Arabia with Eurofighters
Spain with EF-18s
UK with Eurofighters
USA with F-16s and MQ-9s

Additionally, Austria and Portugal will participate with INTEL personnel and Special Forces while Germany will send a group of Observers.

History of Iniochos exercise in Greece

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

The exercise objective was to train personnel in the 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, 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 aircraft were also deployed to Larissa, at 110CW, from where they launched for their missions.

In 2005, the exercise was decentralized, thus the participating aircraft 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 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 was 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.