German-Austrian Summer Air Combat

Decimomanu/Italy (Aug 10th) – Luftwaffe (German Air Force) and the Interceptor Wing of the Austrian Air Component have completed a joint air war exercise on the Italian island of Sardinia. As a news piece on the Luftwaffe’s website revealed Saturday 185 German airmen and 135 of their Austrian comrades were part of the detachment sent to Decimomanu training center, where Luftwaffe regularly holds flight trainings, due to better air space availability and weather conditions. 

All eleven Typhoons parked in a row. Pic: Luftwaffe.de

 

For the German side Taktisches Luftwaffengeschwader (Tactical Air Wing) 74 from Neuberg in Bavaria took part in the maneuvers. As their Austrian neighbors from Zeltweg they are flying the Eurofighter 2000 “Typhoon”. Both wings are mostly dedicated to the interceptor role and operate their countries respective Quick Reaction Alert flights or QRA in short. 

Dogfight Drills

 

German-Austrian Complement. Pic: Luftwaffe.de

Part of the training in extremely hot weather conditions was the certification of pilots in live fire with their on-board-cannons. Dogfights, air-to-air combat tactics and formation flight training was also on the duty roster for the aircrews. While the Austrians participated with five Typhoons, Luftwaffe sent six machines to its Italian base, including this years’ NATO Tiger Meet best paint winner 30+09.

Austrian Concerns

 

In recent months there has been considerable public concern over the combat readiness of the Austrian Army air component. All of the country’s 15 Eurofighters are second hand birds bought from Germany. Those Tranche 1 Typhoons are not capable of the ground attack role. 

Besides some machines being already grounded and cannibalized for spares the number of combat ready pilots was reported to be decreasing steadily. As neighboring Switzerland the Air Defense command intends to cut QRA ready hours to weekdays, possibly merely to office hours. 

After JAWTEX 14, Frisian Flag and the NATO Tiger Meet the summer shooting in Sardinian skies was the fourth large scale exercise for 74. 

AU/pvk