- Según la Fuerza Aérea de Brasil, la FACh participará con seis F-16 y un KC-135.
Ninety-six aircrafts, more than two thousand militaries from nine countries. This is the set for CRUZEX Flight 2013, the largest air war exercise in Latin America, scheduled to take place on November 4th-15th in the Brazilian Northeast. The Natal Air Bases (RN) and Recife Air Base (PE) will welcome airplanes and helicopters for missions from fighter aircraft aerial combat to special forces parachuting, one of the news for this year´s exercise.
For the first time, the exercise held since 2002 will focus only on the air activity and will involve a record number of participants: nine countries. Argentina, Canada, Chile, Colombia, United States, Ecuador, Uruguay and Venezuela, and Brazil, will take supersonic fighters to the Northeast region like the F-16, F-5 and F-2000, besides the large-sized-aircraft, such as the C-130 Hercules and KC-767, plus helicopters, including the AH-2 Sabre, one of the debuting aircrafts of this edition.
More than a showing the pilots´ skills and aircraft technology, CRUZEX is a great training on how to act in coalition , a very common situation in modern conflicts in which several countries work together in a Theater of Operations. The most visible consequence is the predominance of English on nearly everything, but also in how to plan and accomplish missions. One of the challenges is to work with dozens of aircrafts at the same time, the so-called "mission packages". A pilot must also be familiar with in-flight refueling missions from other countries’ aircraft tanker. And whoever is in charge needs to have full control of the situation to avoid "friendly fire".
Although takeoff dozens of aircraft together to steal the scene , Brigadier Jordão recalls that the interaction between countries is the most important . "You have a moment of an hour or two in the mission and the other 22 hours of the day to talk, to exchange information. And that's when you learn. Moreover, we have cycles sectored conversations and classes for each type of activity. Consequently, the Brazilian Air Force adds enough. Brazilian And not only because other countries are also interested in what we are doing", he says. Two of this year's participants are from NATO: Canada and the United States. They have the real experience of conflicts as the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. But that does not mean that CRUZEX is only a lesson from these countries to the representatives of South America". If in one hand they [South American] do not have the experience, they have a value that is essential for interacting: ideas. People are capable in all areas of the planet. It often happens a situation where the best idea comes from the person you least expect , "explains the director of the exercise. This is what the Exercise Director Brigadier Mario Jordão, from the Brazilian Air Force, explains. He says that is on a mission of Air Superiority, when fighters can reach supersonic speeds in battles
happening in hundreds of miles of airspace, or in a Search and Rescue Combat (CSAR ) , in which helicopters fly low to rescue a pilot friend in hostile territory, the standard adopted during CRUZEX is one of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO .
Did you hit or not?
In the CRUZEX Flight 2013, one of the novelties is a small device that can be taken up in the pilots pockets. With the use of GPS there will be what they call "shot validation" for the first time. As in an exercise the launch of the missiles is only simulated, in the past it was difficult to be sure of "who hit who." Often the result was defined by "shouting it out". The Air Force has already passed the stage 'neck scarf', from the Red Baron," as the Commander says. Now you can download all the data collected by the aircraft to know details of what happened up there. According to Brigadier Jordão, more than motivational, shot validation is useful for debriefings, as the level of learning is increased.
In Recife, air traffic controllers of the Third Integrated Center for Air Defense and Air Traffic Control (CINDACTA III) will monitor the aircrafts movement and there, live , may validate the virtual shots . Then, on the ground, the pilots who participated in the same mission will meet for a second validation. In a private room, all combats will be discussed as how they reached "victories". “It is perhaps one of the most interesting moments of this CRUZEX” says Brigadier Jordaõ. According to him, this is when the pilots can learn a lot, understand what are their vulnerabilities and strengths.
Top Gun gives way to technology
If in people´s imagination CRUZEX is the time for fighter pilots show their abilities with extreme maneuvers in close range combat, as did Tom Cruise in Top Gun - Top Gun, the reality is quite different since the '80s movie. The warrior spirit and high fighters´ performances remain, but most of the fighting takes place today in the BVR (Beyond Visual Range) arena. This means that long before the viewing of other aircraft, pilots face each others in a battle that involves radars, high-tech missiles and quite different techniques from those simulated by Hollywood stars.
In this 21st century air war, fighters operate in network via datalink, which transforms squadrons in a real computer network. A Brazilian Air Force F-5EM, for example, can receive information from another without the pilot using the radio. As for the A-29 attack aircraft, it is able to share detailed data about a target with another aircraft. CRUZEX ends up being a general test for these technologies, which modify doctrine and training.
Much of this is a result of the retrofit and modernization projects. Brazil still awaits a decision on their new fighter, but since the first CRUZEX in 2002, a lot has changed. The Mirage III, F-5E Xavante and F-5EM left the scene and gave rise to the Mirage 2000, Super Tucano and modernized F-5, besides E-99 radar aircraft, that despite not carrying weapons, have an important role in this type of exercise. And fighter A-1 pilots, although participating with their old version, are already thinking about how to apply these innovations in the modernized version, whose first unit has been received by the FAB in September.
Fuente: Fuerza Aérea de Brasil.
