Ocean Sky 2021 (OS21) air combat exercise was held at Gando Air Base in the Canary Island from October 19th till October the 29th. OS21 is the biggest international air combat exercise organized by Spanish Air Force Air Combat Command (MACOM), and is one of the biggest of its class in Europe. OS21 is part of the advanced training of the Spanish Air Force Fighter pilots and air combat controllers. During OS21 both pilots and air combat controllers have to face complex scenarios with dissimilar aircraft from Spain and other NATO nations.
This year OS21 joined EART (European Air Refuelling Training) that was held during the same dates at Lanzarote (a nearby Island). Three tankers, an A330 MRTT from France, an A400M from Spain and an A330 MRTT from the Multinational MRTT Unit (MMU) carried out more than 30 sorties during the duration of the exercise.
The fighters that took part in OS21 carried out more than 300 sorties, in two flying periods each day, one in the morning called “MAIN”, which included more fighters, tankers and the NATO E-3 Sentry, and another in the afternoon called SAHDOW, with fewer fighters and tankers. Different kind of missions were flown, including Defensive and Offensive Counter Air, protections of high valuable assets, slow mover escort, personal recovery, etc.
In addition to the flying missions, the maintenance units proficiency were tested of each combat wing of the Spanish Air Force through the Operational Turn Around evaluation, where maintenance teams have to be able to refuel and rearm a fighter that return from combat, in order of giving it back to combat ready status in a short period of time.
A strong public affair effort was made by the Spanish Air Force in order to promote both, the exercise itself and the Spanish Air Force personal and material capabilities, celebrating a spotter’s day and a media day during the exercise.
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