March 9, 2023 5.00 pm This story is over 26 months old

Sneak peek inside Exercise Cobra Warrior at RAF Waddington

Snow meant no flying, but aircraft were still on show

Cobra Warrior operations at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire were halted by snow on Wednesday. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

By Ellis Karran Local Democracy Reporter

Exercise Cobra Warrior is well underway at RAF Waddington, with Lincolnshire playing host to several international air forces.

The biannual training programme is the largest air exercise run by the Royal Air Force, and sees deployments from multiple different nations take part.

Snowy conditions meant that the aircraft were unable to take to the skies on Wednesday.

Over 70 aircraft will take part in the exercise, preparing for a variety of aerial conflict scenarios.

This year it is the turn of India, Belgium, Finland and Saudi Arabia to join British personnel at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire – running from March 2 until March 24.

One of the impressive F-16 jets of the Belgian Air Force – the XTM X Tiger | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

Cobra Warrior is designed to train participants in high-intensity large force tactical air war fighting operations, sharing strategy amongst air forces to bolster experience and knowledge.

Saudi Arabia is flying six Typhoons from RAF Coningsby.

Meanwhile the Indian Air Force are flying five Mirage 2000 jets at Waddington, supported by air-to-air fuelling from RAF Brize Norton.

No eyes to the sky today… | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

Smaller but quicker F-16 jets have been brought over from Belgium and F-18 hornets from Finland, supported by RAF Voyagers conducting tanking operations from RAF Brize Norton.

Indian Air Force members at RAF Waddington. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

No weaponry or armed activity are used for this exercise, but strategy sharing and gaining access to world class facilities makes it a welcome experience for those taking part.

Chris Whitechurch, the Officer Commanding at RAF Waddington, sees Cobra Warrior as a “great opportunity to showcase what the Air Force can do.”

Group Captain Jim Calvert, in charge of the operations and training division for Cobra Warrior, said the other teams have brought “vibrancy” to the exercise and hopes it can “improve operability across the board.”

Jim Calvert, Group Captain of operations and training division. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

Officer Commanding 92 Squadron, Squadron Leader John McFadden, from the squadron that coordinates this exercise, said: “We are looking forward to delivering Exercise Cobra Warrior 23-1.

“92 Squadron have developed a challenging Air-led multi-domain exercise focused on pitting our NATO, JEF and International partners against a capable peer adversary within a contested degraded and operationally limited threat environment.”

Personnel from all four nations welcomed to RAF Waddington gave talks on the exercise | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

The snowy weather proving quite the climate adjustment for the Indian and Saudi Air Force members.

Each team shared the benefits of their involvement in Cobra Warrior, whether it be the chance for Belgian pilots to sample a uniquely large airspace, the Finnish force offering some personnel their first abroad deployment, or the Indian Air Force returning to the UK for the first time since 2015.