For The First Time In History Israeli Combat Aircraft Have Landed In Germany To Take Part in Blue Wings 2020 Exercise

David Cenciotti
3 Min Read
This image of an IAF F-16D Block 50 "Barak" armed with Sky Shield EW and Delilah ALCMs was used by the Israeli Air Force to tease the exercise on Twitter. (Image credit: IAF)

Six IAF F-16C/D “Barak” Jets supported by G550 CAEW, B707 tankers and C-130 Have Just Landed At Nörvenich Air Base.

On Aug. 17, 2020, six Israeli Air Force F-16C/Ds “Barak”, belonging to the 101 and 105 Sqn from Hatzor Air Base arrived at Nörvenich Air Base, in western Germany, where they will remain for two weeks to take part in exercise Blue Wings 2020.

The jets, using radio callsign “ATOMI 1-6” were supported by three B707 tankers (using the radio callsign “GIANT1-2-3”); a G550 CAEW (Conformal Airborne Early Warning) “Nachshon Aitam” (radio callsign “GLORY 1”) and a C-130 (radio callsign “IAF133”).

Interestingly, tomorrow, Aug. 18, “as part of the exercise” a formation led by a IAF G500 with two Israeli F-16s and two German Air Force Eurofighters will carry out a flyover of the Dachau concentration camp, in memory of the Holocaust victims, and will then fly over the “Fürstenfeldbruck” Airport close to Munich, in memory of the 11 Israeli Olympic delegation members that were murdered in the 1972 Olympics terrorist attack.

The deployment of the Israeli combat aircraft to Germany could be tracked online thanks to ADS-B/MLAT:

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Here’s a segment of radio conversation recorded by a Dutch airband listener:

It looks like the Israeli formation led by GIANT 1 was met by GAF Typhoons. Interestingly, as the radio conversation prove, the B707 was not willing to say the remaining fuel in minutes when asked by the German pilot (the answer is “we have a lot of fuel…”):

H/T to Gerjon_ for the heads up and support in the preparation of this article!



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