Imagine a country the size of Wales, with an Air Force roughly the size of the UK's RAF. Add unfriendly, even hostile, neighbours and you could see that the Air Force of this country would have a very confined area for its training and operations. This is the situation that the State of Israel finds itself in. Also, given the political issues that Israel faces, the opportunities for overseas deployments for its Air Force are fairly limited.
The country's biggest ally, and supplier of most of its military hardware, is of course the USA. Israel has occasionally taken part in Red Flag exercises at Nellis AFB in Nevada, most recently in July 2009, but it's a long way from home. There are obvious benefits in finding closer locations to exercise in.
For a few years, from 2001 to 2008, the Israeli Air Force deployed aircraft to Turkey to take part in Anatolian Eagle, a joint exercise between Turkey, the USA and Israel. However for the 2009 exercise Turkey, a predominantly Muslim country, refused to allow Israel to take part in protest at Operation Cast Lead, its operations in the Gaza Strip during winter 2008.
Situated in the south of the island of Sardinia is the NATO base at Decimomannu. Originally used by the Italians in the early part of WWII, it saw a change of operator in 1943. In the 1950s it was selected as a site for a NATO Air Weapons Training Installation (AWTI) and it has been in constant use since it opened in that role.
In 1979 an Air Combat Manoeuvring Instrumentation (ACMI) range opened and in 2002 this was upgraded to an Autonomous Air Combat Manoeuvring Instrumentation (AACMI) range. Deci, as it's known, has been used extensively by all of NATO's Air Forces over the years.
The Israeli Air Force has been using Deci since at least 2003, and all of its versions of the F-15 and F-16 have been deployed there over the years.
This year the Israelis took part in Exercise Vega which also involved the Italian Air Force. The exercise ran from the 15th to the 25th November, although several Israeli support Hercules were seen arriving during the previous week.
The Israeli participants for the exercise comprised five F-15D "Baz" (Buzzards) and five F-16B "Netz" (Hawks), and were supported by an AEW Gulfstream 550 "Nachshon Eitam" (which translates to something along the lines of "Initiator, Bald Eagle").
The F-15Ds, operated by 106 "Spearhead" Squadron at Tel Nof, were all grey and proudly carried individual names, in Hebrew. They were reported to be 701 "Fire Fox", 715 "The Rose of the Winds", 733 "Kings Messenger", 970 "Morning Star" and 979 "Beating Wings" (although there is some debate about the translation!) 979 also sported three kill markings. Two aircraft, 701 and 733, were fitted with an unusual large round aerial behind the rear cockpit.
The F-16Bs were very early models and were in a desert camouflage. 001, 006 and 981 were from 140 "Golden Eagle" Squadron, while 004 and 993 belonged to 116 "Defenders of the South" Squadron, both based at Nevatim.
The Gulfstream 550 was one of five AEW versions operated by 122 "Nachshon" Squadron, also based at Nevatim, and they also have three ELINT models. It features an EL/W2085 phased array radar, which is an advanced version of the earlier Phalcon radar.
The Italian Air Force participants were six EF2000s from 4 Stormo at Grosseto, six Tornado ECRs from 50 Stormo at Piacenza, five F-16ADFs from 37 Stormo at Trapani and five AMX, three from 51 Stormo at Istrana and two from 32 Stormo at Amendola.
The first mission was flown on the afternoon of Tuesday the 16th and a typical package consisted of four F-15Ds, four F-16Bs, the G550, six EF2000s, four Tornado ECRs, four F-16ADFs and four AMX. On the following days two missions were flown, with the morning launch starting at around 0930, and the afternoon launch starting at around 1330. The missions lasted up to an hour and a half.
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