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Exercise Joint Warrior 16-2 (8-20 October, 2016) |
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| Location: RAF Lossiemouth, UK |
| Admission: Not open to the public |
| Parking: N/A |
| Value: Excellent |
| Rating out of 10: Not an air show |
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Royal Navy Sea King ASaC7 |
Joint Warrior is a major, bi-annual held, multinational exercise that involves numerous warships, aircraft, marines and troops, and it is the largest military exercise in Europe. Responsible for the organization for this vast exercise was the Joint Tactical Exercise Planning Staff (JTEPS) located in Faslan on Clyde, Scotland. |
| The exercise took place in the Scottish Exercise Areas. Most of the activities occurred offshore in the coastal waters to the north east and north west of Scotland. JW 16-2 included air, sea and ground assets from NATO and partner countries, including Belgium, Canada, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. The aircraft that involved in the exercise were based at RAF Leeming, which is in North Yorkshire, and at RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland.
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| The exercise was designed to improve interoperability between NATO and allied forces and to provide the opportunity to train in a multinational, multiplatform, and a multi-warfare environment. |
Many of the Typhoons and all of the Tornados based in Lossie, were not involved in the exercise. The RAF had several units deployed to Asia and the United States, so there were a reduced fleet of aircraft available for the standard missions and training flights and only a few Typhoons participated in JW 16-2. Most of the workload of the fast jets operations were been done by the Swedish AF. For aircraft enthusiasts JW 16-2 offered a good opportunity to take some images of the Grippen's and the Portuguese F-16's. |
The end of the line countdown for the Tornados at Lossie has been started. XV Squadron will be disbanded next year in April and all of the remaining Tornados will be moved to Marham, where all Tornados from the RAF will be stationed. together. Also a rare visitor at Lossie for this exercise was the Royal Navy Sea King ASaC7. |
| Lossiemouth is preparing for the future. After the closing of RAF Kinloss and the scrapping of the last remaining Nimrods, the Royal Navy has lost the maritime patrol capability. During Farnborough Air Show, the British government confirmed the purchase of nine Boeing P-8 Poseidons. According to recent reports, RAF Lossiemouth should be the new home of the new MPA's. |
| We're looking forward to see some interesting participation for future exercises at RAF Lossiemouth, Moray, Scotland. |
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Aircraft participating:
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Lossiemouth, UK:
5 x F-16AM Portuguese AF, Esq 201/301 Monte Real
2 x P-8A USN, VP-8"LC", VP-16 "LK", Jacksonville
2 x CP-140 RCAF, 407 MPS, Comox
1 x ATL-2 French Navy, Lorient/Lann-Bihoué
2 x Sea King ASaC7, Royal Navy, 849 sqn, Culdrose
Unknown number of Typhoons
Leeming, UK:
13 x JAS39 Royal Swedish AF (7 x F17 Ronneby, 6 x F21, Lulea) |
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Report and photography by Peter Thivessen and Wolfganag Jarisch for
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