The drill will take place at Andravida Air Base in southern Greece from March 28 to April 7th and will take place over the entire Athens Flight Information Region.
With tensions high in Europe and the Middle East, the Israeli Air Force will be participating in Greece’s Iniohos 2022, a multinational aerial exercise along with pilots from seven other countries simulating various challenging combat scenarios.
According to the Hellenic Air Force, the drill is designed to provide advanced and realistic training scenarios for participants in order to enhance combat readiness and fighting capabilities.
It will simulate a variety of scenarios including airstrikes, evading air defenses, combat search and rescue operations, and protecting or attacking airborne targets.
Israeli F-16s, G-550 Airborne Early Warning (AEW) and Air-to-Air Refueling B-707 aircraft will be flying alongside pilots from several other countries including the United States (F-15 fighter jets and MQ-9 Reaper drones), Canada, France (Charles De Gaulle aircraft carrier, Rafael fighter jets and AEW E2C Hawkeye aircraft) Italy (Tornado fighter jets), Cyprus (AW139 helicopter), and Slovenia (PC-9 training aircraft).
Other countries including Egypt, Kuwait, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Albania, Austria, North Macedonia, United Kingdom, India, Canada and Croatia will be sending observers to the drill.
The drill will take place at Andravida Air Base in southern Greece from March 28 to April 7th and will take place over the entire Athens Flight Information Region (FIR).
Israel maintains broad cooperation with the Greek airforce and has participated in numerous military exercises of air, sea, and ground forces with the Mediterranean country. Senior IDF officers have told The Jerusalem Post that the military views its Greek counterparts as a “major and natural strategic partner.”
While Israel has participated in the drill for several years, in 2018 Israel did not appear on the exercise’s website as a participant even though there were hints of Israel’s involvement in the patch worn by the pilots on their flight suits where the Israeli flag was visible.
Before the signing of the Abraham Accords, IAF pilots flew alongside pilots from the United Arab Emirates in Iniochos 2019.
This year’s exercise comes shortly after the US, Israeli, French, Cypriot and Greek naval forces completed the Noble Dina naval drill in the Mediterranean Sea southwest of Cyprus last week.
The Israeli Navy’s INS Hanit (a Sa’ar 5-class corvette), INS Kidon (a Sa’ar 4.5-class vessel), INS Romah ships and the INS Tanin submarine took part in the drill.
The participating forces conducted a number of exercises including naval defense, dealing with a submarine threat, search and rescue, medical responses at sea, dealing with naval and aerial threats and combined naval and air force training against submarines.
While Israel’s Navy is relatively small compared to other IDF corps it has a significant amount of territory to protect.
The navy is also tasked with securing the natural gas drilling rigs that are in Israel’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), clear targets for enemies on Israel’s northern border. The IDF believes that Hezbollah has long-range missiles that can hit the rigs, which supply a large amount of the electricity consumed in Israel.