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Typhoons hoist blue flag at international flying exercise

RAF Typhoons flying in formation.
An RAF Typhoon joined a variety of aircraft at the start of Exercise Blue Flag.

An RAF detachment of Typhoon jets has joined units from several countries for a complex multi-national flying exercise designed to test aircrew skills to their limits.

The Typhoons from 1 (Fighter) SquadronRAF Lossiemouth, supported by personnel from across the Air Force, are training with aircraft from the US, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, India and Israel in Exercise Blue Flag 21.

The flags of India, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Greece, USA and Israel flying in the wind.
Eight nations are training together in Exercise Blue Flag. 

Exercise Blue Flag is one of a series of international flying exercises for the RAF in recent months, pitching a variety of jets into scenarios where they will fly against and with each other to develop interoperability of both aircrew, aircraft and other systems.

RAF Typhoon on the runway.
The Typhoons from 1 (Fighter) Squadron, flew to the Middle East from their base at RAF Lossiemouth.

The scenarios will see 1 Squadron Typhoons working with Luftwaffe Eurofighters, French Rafales, Indian Mirages, Greek F16s, Italian F35s, US F16s and Israeli F35s and F16s.

"We are training to maintain and improve our performance and are honoured to be given this opportunity to learn as part of a multi-national audience.  By training together, the UK, along with all of the other nations on Exercise Blue Flag, will continue to develop our relationships and understanding of how we fly and interact both in the air and on the ground."

Wing Commander Cockroft
Officer Commanding 1 Squadron

You see more action from Exercise BLUE FLAG in the video below. 

The exercise, held at Ovda Airbase near Eilat, Israel, is the largest yet of a series of bi-annual exercises hosted by the Israeli Air Force.

"This multi-national training environment allows us to bring together different ideas and experiences and provides the opportunity to develop our tactics, techniques and procedures for the integration of the capabilities of our current and future aircraft."

Wing Commander Cockroft
Officer Commanding 1 Squadron