The Swiss Air Force is conducting air exercises at RAF Leeming to enable the country’s F-18 Hornet pilots to achieve important day and night-flying, whilst testing their advanced skills alongside RAF and United States Air Force counterparts.
Now in its third year at the North Yorkshire base, Exercise YORKNITE 21 is the name given to this deployment and encompasses three elements. An initial contingent of 20 aircrew will be using the exercise to hone advanced skills, whilst the second will be conducting night flying training over the sea. The third element and a first for this year, is a Swiss detachment that include Cougar helicopters, using time in the UK to train at the Electronics Warfare Tactics facility at RAF Spadeadam.
"When it comes to advanced training you need highly qualified assets to train with and against. Our Air Force is too small to set up the assets so the opportunities in the UK are just fabulous – working with operationally experienced units from the Royal Air Force, or the United States Air Force in Europe. The second detachment will be completely different, because it includes the young pilots. Their challenge will be not only to stick precisely and correctly to a rules, regulations and procedures, but also successfully do the basic exercises at night in the training sectors over the dark, black sea at night."
Lieutenant Colonel Wicki
Detachment Commander
Lieutenant Colonel Wicki is a veteran of previous Exercise YORKNITE's; he still gets immense satisfaction from seeing how much aircrew can develop their skills and confidence within a short space of time.
"The difference between how my aircrew arrive – physically and mentally – stepping into YORKNITE activities, and then seeing the same lunch at the end of this detachment...it’s just fantastic how they progress. These are the moments I adore doing this job, being a Detachment Commander. You can lead people to achieve their targets and return home happy and at a proficient level. This is one of the most privileged jobs."
Lieutenant Colonel Wicki
Detachment Commander
"We at RAF Leeming are delighted to welcome our Swiss colleagues back to Yorkshire for some more essential training. We have established a superb rapport with them over the years and welcome the mutual benefit their visit brings. The contingent nature of current operations means we must focus on rapidly adapting our processes to meet new requirements with an emphasis on collaboration with key allies and partners. Exercise YORKNITE brings all those opportunities to us both."
Group Captain Crawford
Station Commander at RAF Leeming
