Green Blade 2012: High political support during visitors day

Claude-France Arnould during the visitors day

in Kleine-Brogel, 2 Oct 2012- photo Brig Sedeyn Ritchie

Kleine-Brogel - 3 October 2012 European Defence Agency

At the occasion of Green Blade’s Distinguished Visitors Day (DVD), the Ministers of Defence of Belgium and Luxembourg, Pieter de Crem and Jean-Marie Halsdorf as well as Claude-France Arnould, Chief Executive of the European Defence Agency, visited Kleine Brogel Airbase. Together with more than hundred additional representatives from Member States they followed a comprehensive dynamic demonstration of the missions trained during the EDA's latest helicopter exercise.

The Belgian Air Component is currently hosting Green Blade 2012. Running together with Exercise Pegasus, a Special Operations training exercise, the two groups work closely together on numerous missions. Interoperability, deployability and cost-efficiency of joint missions are at the centre of the three weeks exercise which draws together 550 participants from Belgium, Italy, Germany and Spain. Green Blade is also supported by Luxembourg.

“Green Blade is an excellent example of pooling and sharing of military capabilities. Today is an unique opportunity to see how various teams from different countries can become one unit in not even three weeks.” said Claude-France Arnould at the opening of the DVD.

In total, 15 helicopters of different types are currently involved in the combined Green Blade/Pegasus exercise. Italy operates transport (CH-47) and attack (A-129) helicopters, Germany and Belgium two types of utility helicopters (UH-1D and A-109). Other aircraft used by Belgium are two C-130s, two B-Hunters and up to four F-16s.

During the entire exercise, helicopters execute around 65 missions of steadily increasing complexity, from typical Special Operations-related missions, such as insertion/ extraction, Direct Action, Personnel Recovery, and Intelligence Surveillance & Reconnaissance, by day and by night, in single or multiship configurations. The exercise will also include more conventional types of missions, such as Airmobile Operations, Recce & Surveillance and Medical Evacuation, as well as non-tactical training missions, such as Night Vision Goggle-flying, Nap of Earth flight and Gun Firing. These missions will add up to around 650 crucial Flying Hours.