Volcanic Ash? Air War Games Taking Place Over Europe

RAMSTEIN, Germany &8212; The 22nd Fighter Squadron at Spangdhalem Air Base and 351st Air Refueling Squadron from Royal Air Force Lakenheath are partnering with air forces from the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, and Turkey to participate in the large-scale NATO Response Force Air Live Germany-hosted Exercise BRILLIANT ARDENT 10 (BAT 10) running from April 12-22.

(SNIP)

Sixty aircraft ranging from fighters, attack aircraft, helicopters, tanker and airborne early warning aircraft are operating from air bases located in Germany, the Czech Republic, France, Poland, and the UK.

SOURCE

This is strange, all flights above europe halted but i can not find any news of any cancellations
of these (air) war games.
What is going on here? am i missing something or is it that these fighter jets are flying around while all commercial flights are grounded.
The article does state that the aircraft will be operating from bases inn the UK and Germany for example.

What do you think?

OTHER SOURCE

As the cloud thickens, some pilots are asking... Why can't we just fly beneath it?

[edit on 18-4-2010 by jaamaan]

[edit on 18-4-2010 by jaamaan]

reply to post by jaamaan


My guess would be that the military gets to make their own calls. but the governments wouldn't want civilian deaths and have liability (or maybe the companies, not sure who makes the calls) so they just suspended the flights even in there isn't danger.

reply to post by jaamaan


They are all EU states apart from Turkey and they are all involved in European defense pacts.. Its not in any way a big deal..

To be honest why would they not cancel it and second why would they mention it if they did, its pretty obvious imho.

I dont think there is a conspiracy or whatnot relating this event.

But for your info, german airlines have been flying trasnfere flights (planes without passengers) from and to different airports during the fly ban so they will have the capacity to fly as much people once the ban is lifted.

These planes flew only at 3000 meters altitude and reported no incidents nore was even a scratch found on one of the planes after landing so maybe the air forces just fly low or not at all.

Greets

reply to post by jaamaan


Good thinking...I had similar thoughts last night. I wondered if government would not fly or if grounding civilian flights were just to limit liability and protect civilians. I know there was also at least one commercial airline company that did test flights yesterday with a passenger jet and they experienced no problems. They are requesting the government to allow them to fly.

I really don't see why they can't fly low altitude flights to southern cities and then fly international flights from a southern location.

Originally posted by jaamaan

This is strange, all flights above europe halted but i can not find any news of any cancellations of these (air) war games.

Don't know about those ones, but the annual Joint Warrior exercise in NW Scotland was suspended (no idea though if they restarted it over the weekend?)

news.bbc.co.uk...

reply to post by jaamaan


It is strange indeed.. I live in gothenburg, Sweden.. The flights here are canceled until monday! But when i look at the sky, it is clear blue.. The sun is bright and I can easily see the moon at night.. Me and my friends keep wondering why the flights are canceled when there is no spot of ash in the sky!!!

I will be the first to admit that I don't know what I'm talking about....LOL...BUT..

Wouldn't this be the perfect time to see how your Air Force would fly or if
it could fly after a nuke was detonated nearby?

Just a thought.

As far as i can see this large-scale air exercise did take place over the last two day's.

"We are scheduled to resume supporting the NATO exercises Brilliant Ardent and Frisian Flag (April 16) provided weather is suitable for flight," said Capt. Sarah Cook, the 351st Air Refueling Squadron scheduler.

Brilliant Ardent, a large-scale NATO response force air live exercise hosted by German officials April 12 through 22.

SOURCE

And here is something i found that seems to relate to this news but i am not sure what i am reading here.
But it looks like a monitoring log of military communications mentioning the "exercise Frisian Flag 2010".
LINK

Originally posted by jaamaan

RAMSTEIN, Germany &8212; The 22nd Fighter Squadron at Spangdhalem Air Base and 351st Air Refueling Squadron from Royal Air Force Lakenheath are partnering with air forces from the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, and Turkey to participate in the large-scale NATO Response Force Air Live Germany-hosted Exercise BRILLIANT ARDENT 10 (BAT 10) running from April 12-22.

(SNIP)

Sixty aircraft ranging from fighters, attack aircraft, helicopters, tanker and airborne early warning aircraft are operating from air bases located in Germany, the Czech Republic, France, Poland, and the UK.

SOURCE

This is strange, all flights above europe halted but i can not find any news of any cancellations
of these (air) war games.
What is going on here? am i missing something or is it that these fighter jets are flying around while all commercial flights are grounded.
The article does state that the aircraft will be operating from bases inn the UK and Germany for example.

What do you think?

OTHER SOURCE

As the cloud thickens, some pilots are asking... Why can't we just fly beneath it?

[edit on 18-4-2010 by jaamaan]

[edit on 18-4-2010 by jaamaan]

Lakenheath is not a refueling wing just to let you know..... I am at it's sister base Mildenhall and we are the refueling wing. They have fighters
And it is just a joint exercise..... nothing more.... we have to train to defend against enemies you know.

[edit on 18-4-2010 by Reign02]

I live in Germany and I can tell you that there is no air traffic, military or civilian in the skies. Not even medivac choppers. Now I know how the skies looked like before planes were invented.

They are probably just showing any relevant parties that their air defenses still work. It's also a good opportunity to test aircraft under these conditions.

Maybe the whole thing is a test project? Imagine if you could cause a volcanic eruption or use some other method to throw up ash that would destroy another nation's planes but not your own.

[edit on 18-4-2010 by thedarklingthrush]

[edit on 18-4-2010 by thedarklingthrush]

[edit on 18-4-2010 by thedarklingthrush]

Not directly about this, but related:

Full CNN article

London, England (CNN) -- A few dozen test flights Sunday offered hope that the skies over much of Europe may be safe for air travel, but officials made no promises that the massive disruptions due to volcanic ash are about to go away.

"The results coming from these flights is... there's no impact in the area," European Union Secretary of State Diego Lopez Garrido said.

Military Jets have ejection seats which are handy for 1 or 2 seat crew to eject in the event of a dual engine flameout over the North Sea or Europe. Airliners carrying hundreds don't have this luxury.

Not to mention the fact that if a 300-tonne airliner goes down then its the airline that has to pay-up for the Insurance and clean-up costs, not to mention replacing the plane. The Military has the Taxpayers (us), again for that luxury.

reply to post by jaamaan


BRILLIANT ARDENT 2010 = NUKE IRAN 2010 ?

April 18, 2010
"U.S. military plans against Iran being updated"
Posted: April 18th, 2010 02:29 PM ET

From CNN Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr

Excerpt:

Washington (CNN) – The Pentagon and U.S. Central Command are updating military plans to strike Iran's nuclear sites, preparing up-to-date options for the president in the event he decides to take such action, an Obama administration official told CNN Sunday.

More at the link...

politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com...