Between 7 and 18 October 2002, four Saab J37DI Viggens from the Östersund/Frösön based Flygflottilj 4 participated in the Frisian Flag 2002 exercise which was organised by the Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF) 323 Tactical Evaluation & Standardization Squadron. Herman Sixma and Theo van Geffen report from 'Fightertown Leeuwarden', the Netherlands.

"Main objective of Frisian Flag is to train offensive and defensive counter air roles in a realistic, large-scale multi-national scenario, in which emphasis is placed on the effective integration of the participating air and ground assets", explains captain Ronald van der Jagt, coordinator of this year's Frisian Flag 2002 (FF2002) exercise.

"We offer the participating aircrews a low-budget, high-quality exercise, tailored to the theatre in this part of Europe." FF2002 can therefore best be typified as an exercise designed by and for pilots. An exercise to develop and train skills in planning, briefing and executing large-scale packages of aircraft against 'hostile' enemy fighters and ground-based air defence (GBAD) units.

Aircraft participating in FF2002 were divided in an offensive Blue Air force operating from Leeuwarden Air Base and a defensive Red Air force operating from Twenthe Air Base.
Red Air consisted of F-16s, F-15Cs, F-18Cs and Mirage F1CRs.
Blue Air was made up by four RNLAF F-16AM/BM and the four Swedish JA37D Viggens, simulating MiG-29 Fulcrums and Su-27 Flankers.

Scenarios for the Blue Air forces varied from Offensive Counter Air (OCA), Defensive Counter Air (DCA), High Value Airborne Asset (HVAA) and Close Air Support (CAS), while the Twenthe based Red Air forces were mainly flying DCA and Combat Air Patrol (CAP) missions.
Tanker support for the F-16s during the second week of the exercise was provided by a KDC-10 aircraft, while a NATO E-3A AWACS operated out of Leeuwarden of its home base Geilenkirchen (Germany).
Finally, Hawk and Patriot surface-to-air missile sites were deployed at the army training grounds in the Marnewaard polder to simulate hostile GBAD systems.

FF2002 differed from earlier editions of the exercise in the way that the participating aircraft were divided over two airbases. "Because of noise restrictions and space limitations at Leeuwarden" as captain Van der Jagt explained. "However, especially for the debriefing sessions a video conference system with open telephone lines was set up at Leeuwarden and Twenthe. Using this system we can provide the guys at Twenthe with the same 'real time air picture' from the GCI downlink with our main Control and Reporting Center (CRC) we have here at Leeuwarden."

Training areas for FF2002 included the terminal control area (TMA) around Leeuwarden, Dutch overland target areas in the northern provinces, the Cornfield air-to-ground range on the isle of Vlieland and eight out of the nine RNLAF Temporary Reserved Airspaces (TRAs) over the North Sea, where participants could use the airspace between 5000ft (1500m) and 50,000ft (15,000m).
Further airspace that was utilised included the German D-100 TRA (excluding D44 and D46 areas) and the Danish TRA BR-1.

In total, between 90 and 95% of all flying activities took place over the sea for safety reasons and to minimize noise complaints.
Like in the previous edition of the exercise, main Frisian Flag missions were flown in the afternoon, allowing the organisers maximum flexibility with respect to weather conditions.

For the first time participating in a Frisian Flag exercise was the Swedish Air Force. Not with the J39 Gripens the organizers hoped for, but with four JA37DI Viggens. During their two-week stay at Twenthe Air Base, the Swedish Viggens concentrated on their role as air defence fighter, both in the main missions as well as in the shadow missions that were flown in the morning.

"In order to get the maximum profit out of our two weeks stay at Twenthe we brought with us ten pilots and a maintenance crew of 33 persons", explained Major Gabor Nagy, detachment commander and commander of the first Jaktdivision of the F4 Wing.

"This allowed us to split up our detachment in two sections with five pilots each. One section for the shadow missions in the morning, which mainly consisted of 2x2 or 4x4 dissimilar air combat training (DACT) missions against F-16s, and one section for the main FF2002 mission per day. During both type of missions we try to stay away from the enemy aircraft as far as possible, avoiding any 'dog fights' with the participating F-16s. Once a clear identification is made, we rely on our Beyond Visual Range (BVR) weapons. And, if one of our Red Air aircraft is 'shot down', there is always the possibility to go to the simulated airfield situated just outside the training area and return to the scene as a 'new' participant."

In total, the F4 Wing brought five JA37DI Viggens toTwenthe. During their flight to and from Twenthe, the aircraft made a refuelling stop at Ronneby. Pilots participating in the exercise were all instructor pilots (IPs), having accumulated some 1000 hours on the type and flying some 120-140 hours on a yearly basis.

Major Nagy: "This is probably somewhat below NATO standards, but here you have to take into account that our effective time for combat training in Sweden is 90 - 95%. At our home base Östersund/Frösön, transit time to the exercise area is usually only a few minutes which gives us a maximum profit out of each mission. Here, during FF2002, transit time to the TRA's is usually some 10 - 15 minutes. Given an average FF2002 mission length of approximately 90 minutes, there are about 60 minutes left for the exercise itself. However, an exercise like FF2002 offers great opportunities to fly in large scale scenarios with and against types of fighter aircraft you usually don't see in Sweden."

Can the Frisian Flag exercise as it was conducted in 2002 be compared with other flag exercises such as Red Flag and Maple Flag? LCdr Duby, detachment commander of the French team that was participating in FF2002, explains the differences.

"Apart from the somewhat smaller scale of the exercise and the fact that we don't have to buy our own 'slots', Frisian Flag is first of all 'for pilots and organised by pilots'. It is designed for the more experienced pilots who want to improve themselves and share the know-how they have with their comrades from other NATO and PfP countries.
In my opinion, Red Flag is more suitable for young pilots who are facing their first series of 'real' combat missions in a large scale exercise with relatively few lessons learned given the amount of assets involved. Maple Flag is a little different, especially if we look at the air-to-air missions. However, it misses the possibilities to have the in-depth discussions about tactics and lessons learned that we have here at Leeuwarden."

Looking at the disadvantages of the scenario's that were flown during FF2002, LCdr Dubuy mentions the limited choice of targets for the aircraft in the strike role, the absence of Navy assets, the lack of geographical dispersion of targets over the entire exercise area and the uncertainty about the use of AMRAAMs.

"If the organisers can incorporate these aspects in the next edition of the exercise, there is nothing else to wish."

This next edition of the exercise will probably take place in 2004 instead of 2003.

"For operational reasons", as captain Van der Jagt explained. "In 2003 we will be extremely busy with a detachment at El Centro (California, USA), probably in combination with a detachment at Manas (Kyrgyzstan) as part of the 'Enduring Freedom' operations over Afghanistan. As far as I can look at it right now, organising another Frisian Flag exercise will simply be too much."

However, for 2004 the prospects are good. The Swedish Air Force already expressed their interest to participate in FF2004 with JAS39 Gripens. Also it can be anticipated that at least the French, the Finnish and Americans will return to Leeuwarden in the second half of 2004.