English translation by Dario Cocco

Between June 9th and 20th 2014 the fourteenth edition of Exercise Anatolian Eagle took place; the important event is organized by the Turkish Air Force (Türk Hava Kuvvetleri) at the Konya air base in Central Anatolia (Ana Jet 3nci Üs / 3rd Main Jet Base ).
The idea of creating an exercise similar to the more famous Red Flag (United States) and Maple Flag (Canada) was established at the end of the nineties; in 2000-2001 biennium, were finalized by the General Staff the methods of implementation, and Konya Air Base is the chosen location. In 2001 the first edition takes place. In 2003 the EWTTS (Electronic Warfare Test and Training Center) was set up as the center of organization and supervision of the exercise.
The Anatolian Eagle is characterized by an edition in which participate exclusively departments of the Türk Hava Kuvvetleri (AE20.. -1), usually held in the month of April, while the second part is also open to foreign Air Forces (AE20.. -2). A peculiar characteristic of the second part is the attendance of non-NATO Air Forces; as a matter of fact in the various editions Pakistan, Jordan, Israel, the UAE, the Emirate of Qatar and Saudi Arabia participated as “friendly” countries alongside NATO members such as Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, France, Belgium, United States, United Kingdom and Spain.
In 2010 edition the presence of the "Armed Forces of the People's Republic of China" (Air Force of China) caused much fanfare, not very publicized anyway mainly due to the objections raised by the United States and NATO for the opportunity to bring to the attention of a country normally considered "non-friendly" militarily speaking, advanced western technologies and operating procedures of NATO.
2014 edition, called TUSAP Raiders, will be followed by an additional appendix in September which will see the presence Pakistan Air Force.
The 36 editions of exercise held so far (from 2001 edition 2014-1) saw the attendance of the considerable sum of 28,250 soldiers and 2,376 aircraft, which together have generated 20,258 sorties.
Returning to AE 2014-2 edition, the redeployment of the participating aircraft at Konya began Monday June 2nd and continued the following day; on Wednesday June 4th preparatory works began with a general "Mass-in briefing," while on Thursday June 5th first familiarization flights took place. During the first week (June 9-13) the real exercise phase begun with two daily waves, “Eagle 1” in the morning and “Eagle 2” in the afternoon while Friday made exception with only the morning sortie (Eagle 1).
For the second week (June 16-20) the flight schedule was limited to the first three days with two daily missions, while on Thursday there was a "mass out-briefing", while on Friday 20th a "redeployement" of staff and aircraft to their bases took place, with the only exception of the Phantoms of Turkish Air Force which left Thursday night and the Jordanian AF F 16s which left in the following days. The program for accredited photographers this year has been very rich, compared to previous years as permission was also granted to attend daily "Eagle 2" mission on Thursday afternoon and redeployments on Friday morning.
The photographic "full immersion" began on Wednesday morning with the acceptance at the base of about 250 photographers from all over Europe and other countries; after the recognition process we were headed towards the "Mass Brief Room" where Major Hasan Saffet Çelikel (AETC Squadron Commander) introduced the activities planned for the following three days.
The structure in charge of the exercise (AE Training Squadron Command) is composed of a Plan Office, an Operation Office, an "Analysis & Assessment office" and an "Administration Office". The primary elements of the AE Training are the "White HQ" that performs the following tasks:
- preparation of the training scenario
- determination of the training level building block approach
- issuing mission orders (ATO Air Tasking Order)
- monitoring and control
- evaluation and analysis of the training
Then we have the "Red Force" composed of Filo 132 (based in Konya), of EWTS, GBAD and GCI; whose primary task is the "Aggressor" role carried out with F 16 and F-4E-2020 Terminator aircraft.
The "Blue Force" has the primary task of "target" by means of the national and international participants supported by the AAR (Airborne Aerial Refueling) and TACON (Tactical Control) components.
Another element of the AE Trainings is the "Threat Systems," which in a nutshell are the systems of Air Defense and Radar: SA-6 Gainful, SA-8 Gecko SA-11 A/B Gadfly, ZSU 23-4 Gundfish, Skyguard-Sparrow Hawk and MTS, all operate in the context of "Tersakan Gun Range."
Then we have the C2, practically the "eyes" of the exercise, directed by C2 Center, which uses a radar Operation Room on the ground, and two airborne systems, the E 3A AWACS supplied by NATO and the new B 737AEW&C "Peace Eagle" supplied by Türk Hava Kuvvetleri.
The AE Trainings employs for the control of flight operations the ACMI (Air Combat Maneuvering Instrumentation) system, which monitors in real time the position, the engagement, the altitude and the speed of each aircraft present in the area; the airspace where the simulated combats are conducted covers an area of 1,200 sq kms, which, as you can see from the map, extends to the east of Konya.
The missions carried out in the two weeks of exercise were as follows:
Control Air Patrol/Sweep/Escort
Air to ground
Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses / Destruction of Enemy Air Defenses
High Value Airborne Asset protection
Slow mover protection
Recce
TAL/Tactical Air Defense
Close Air Support/Convoy protection/TST/TAD
Anti-Surface Warfare
Combat Search and Rescue
The objectives of the exercise are summarized in the following points:
-To increase the operational training level of the pilots and air defense personnel in simulated most realistic operational environment.
-To exercise and develop joined and combined operational procedures.
-To decrease the attritions to a minimum level and to increase effectiveness to a maximum level in real operation environment.
While the mission of the Anatolian Eagle is contained in:
-Provide most realistic operational training area for combat ready fighters
-Give a chance to fighter pilots to execute planned tactics to employ in large force compositions.
-Provide a forum to exchange ideas and lesson learned.
-Have fighter pilots and GCI controllers continue their Combat Ready status with various mission type.
-Train the participants as they fight and teach them how to survive.
To complete the AE 2014-2 with the numbers we have the following data:
- Total amount of staff involved: 1,122
- International staff; 494 of which 137 of the Royal AF, 67 of the Royal Jordanian AF, 121 of the Spanish AF, 24 of NATO and 145 of Qatar Emiri AF
- 78 aircraft involved
For international air forces have been scheduled 16 sorties by RJAF, 64 by the RAF, 128 by the SPAF, 32 by the QEAF and 2 by NATO.
At the end of the article we have to mention a "nice diversion" organized by the Command of the Air Base during the second day (Thursday); in the pause between the morning and the afternoon flight “waves” the "Turkish Stars", equipped by NF 5A/B-2000, have carried out their complete aerobatic display. I remember that Konya Air Base houses besides the Türk Yildizlari (134 Akrotim Filo) even the 131 Filo with their brand new B737AEW&C (Ejder-Dragon), the 132 Filo with F 16C/D Block 40/50 (Hançer-Dagger) and 135 Filo with AS532AL Cougar (Ates-Fire).
Much appreciated were also the stalls arranged by both the Turkish Stars and some units of the Turkish Air Force, selling some interesting gadgets (caps, patches and t-shirts).