Garuda IV Exercise at Istres and Orange.
From June 14th to 25th 2010 it was held the Garuda Exercise. This exercise take part at boh Istres-Le Tubé and Orange-Caritat, both bases are in the Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur region in France.Besides the Armeé De L'Air (French Air Force) with Mirage 2000-5, Mirage 2000B, Rafale B/C and KC-135FR also the Republic of Singapore Air Force with the F-16D Bk52+ and the Indian Air Force with the SU-30MKI and the IL-78 took part in the exercise. The French contingent was split between Orange that hosted the Mirage 2000-5 of which at least 4 take part at the exercise each sorties and Istrest where the remaining of the French Air force detachement operates. The Singopore's F-16 were operating out of Orange-Caritat, there were 6 machine of whom 4 take part at each mission. The Indian Sukhoi from the 8th Sqd were flying from Istres where there were 6 aircrafts.The 2010 Garuda Edition was not the first one, actually the first in France was in 2005. Both were anticipated by an exercise in India. This kind of exercises was an example used for many bilateral India air force training, like the Indro Dhanush with the Royal Air Force. The European side of the Exercise allow the IAF to accurately plan the transit flight overflying many foreing country and procedures. In order to land at Istres they had to stop only in Luxor, Egypt with the help of 3 Il-78 tanker, even with a minor issues with one of the three. They departed from the 8th Sqd base, Bareilly, close to Nepal, and move initially to Jamnagar and then Ahmedabad airport from where they leave India. The Indian Air force as of March 2013 has 170 Su-30MKI in 7 different bases but has ordered a total of 272 aircrafts. The first 40 machines were build by Sukhoi in Russia, the remaining are build under license production contract at the Nasik plant,India. The Su-30MKI is the most powerful version of the Russian fighters, thanks to flight envelope and avionics performances. For example they have installed canards and thrust-vectoring engines, the Al-31FP, with a full afterburner power of 12,500 Kgf. With a close cooperation with Israel's industries, on the SU-30MKI has been installed the Litening targeting pod, a powerful self-defense suite and also the Radar NIIP N011M Bars with a 200km air tracking range, a 60km rear hemisphere and 50km ground targeting. Finally it has a powerful Laser-optical locator system.
At the 2010 Garuda exercise also the Republic of Singapore Air Force take part in the shape of a detachment of the 145th Sqd "Hornet". They arrived at Orange on the 10th with 2 C-130H, a KC-135 and 6 F-16D Bk52+ after a fuel stop in Qatar were they encountered a huge sandstorm. The transports assets moved to Istres just after the cargo offloading. This Singaporese version of the F-16 is close to the F-16I judging the bumps around the spine and the air intake. They were ordered and delivered under the Peace Carvin IV FMS sales of 2000. They are based at Changi East Airport close to the international civil airport. It's not clear the avionics they used but it's rumored that on the dorsal spine they have the SPS-3000 EW suite. They have HMDS to use the israeli Pyton 4 Air to Air close range missile at his best. They mount the Conformal Fuel Tank in order to maximize the range and free two wing pylons. They run the Pratt&Whitney F100-PW-229 with a full afterburner power of 13,226 Kgf. The Singaporese pilot during their training travel around the world, initially in Australia, then Cazaux(F) with the A-4SU and now also with the italian M-346. After they go to Tucson AFB and Luke AFB, Arizona (USA) for the final training on the F-16's. The Republic of Singapore has a total of 42 F-16Bk52, and also 20 Bk52+ bought from the Lockheed Martin, mostly under Peace Carvin FMS sales. 12 of these F-16D Bk52 are based at Luke AFB, Arizona for training duties.
Obviously we can not forget the France connection of the 2010 edition. Most part of the job was carried out by the Mirage 2000 fighter with two variants the Mirage 2000B and the Mirage 2000-5. While the first one it's an OCU trainer the second one is a powerful single-engine single-seat french made fighters. The first flight of this upgraded version flew on 1990, while the legacy version flew on 1984. They keep the SNECMA M53-5 P2 turbofan engine, but they get a new radar the RDY (Radar Doppler Multitarget), an oversized drop tanks, a new HUD and HOTAS control. The Armee de l'Air upgraded 37 Mirage 2000C to this variant recognizable, among other things, by the absence of the pitot tube on the nose. These fighters were based at the Dijon Air Base (BA-102), 400km north of Orange Caritat under the EC 01.002 "Cigognes". For the Garuda Exercise at least 6 of these were based at Orange. The BA115 usually host the EC 02.005 "Ile De France", the Mirage 2000 OCU unit. The base it's on the south west of France close to the historic Avignon city. From here and from the close Istres (BA-125) for two week Indian, Singaporese and French fighters flew different mission like WVR (Within Visual Range) and BVR (Beyond Visual Range) both over the Meditterean Sea, Strike Attacks (in the centre of France), COMAO and Cross Refuelling
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Aircraft Type | Serial | Tail Number | Group/Escadrille | Wing/Escadron | Base | Note |
Mirage 2000-5F | 102-EP | 47 | SPA103 | EC01.002 | Dijon Longvic | 2 Mission Flown |
Mirage 2000-5F | 102-EJ | 43 | SPA26 | EC01.002 | Dijon Longvic | 2 Mission Flown |
Mirage 2000-5F | 102-EL | 58 | SPA103 | EC01.002 | Dijon Longvic | 3 Mission Flown |
Mirage 2000-5F | 102-ED | 62 | SPA103 | EC01.002 | Dijon Longvic | 3 Mission Flown |
Mirage 2000-5F | 102-ES | 73 | SPA26 | EC01.002 | Dijon Longvic | 2 Mission Flown |
Mirage 2000B | 115-OP | 508 | EC02.005 | Orange / Caritat | Not Taking part in the Exercise | |
Mirage 2000B | 115-OV | 522 | EC02.005 | Orange / Caritat | Not Taking part in the Exercise | |
Mirage 2000B | 115-OL | 533 | EC02.005 | Orange / Caritat | Overshoot Airfield with SU-30MKI | |
Mirage 2000B | 115-xx | EC02.005 | Orange / Caritat | Overshoot Airfield with SU-30MKI | ||
AS 555 AN | VB | 5392 | VB135 | EH05.067 | Orange / Caritat | Not Taking part in the Exercise |
AS 555 UN | AYB | 5491 | 6EHM | EAALAT | Le Luc/Le Cannet | Not Taking part in the Exercise |
AS 555 UN | AYE | 5527 | 6EHM | EAALAT | Le Luc/Le Cannet | Not Taking part in the Exercise |
F-16D Bk52+ | 661 | FMS 01-6010 | 145th Sq | Changi East | 2 Mission Flown | |
F-16D Bk52+ | 662 | FMS 01-6011 | 145th Sq | Changi East | 2 Mission Flown | |
F-16D Bk52+ | 678 | FMS 01-6027 | 145th Sq | Changi East | 2 Mission Flown | |
F-16D Bk52+ | 679 | FMS 01-6028 | 145th Sq | Changi East | 2 Mission Flown | |
F-16D Bk52+ | 669 | FMS 01-6018 | 145th Sq | Changi East | No mission flew | |
F-16D Bk52+ | 674 | FMS 01-6023 | 145th Sq | Changi East | No mission flew | |
SU-30MKI | SB303 | 8th Sq | 15 Wing | Bareilly AFS | Overshoot Airfield with M 2000B | |
SU-30MKI | SB058 | 8th Sq | 15 Wing | Bareilly AFS | Overshoot Airfield with M 2000B |