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Page 1 of 2  Where? Southern Germany
When? 03/07 - 18/07/2008
ELITE (Electronic Warfare Live Training Exercise) went into its 14th year under this designation in 2008. After reaching its maximum of participating aircraft of different nations in 2007 the number of jets and helicopters was in a slight decrease this year. Nevertheless many interesting jets came to Lechfeld for 2 weeks to use it as a base for their daily attacks on the Heuberg range.
More details about the exercise in general can also be found in my reports from 2005, 2006 and 2007. As in recent years the center stage for the exercise has been the Heuberg training area in Southern Germany, where all the electronic threat area has been built up and the jets and helicopters can go fast and low to train their tactics and countermeasures. Some high resolution photos at the beginning, more to follow soon:   
  
  
The German Luftwaffe Tornados were once again those aircraft who really used the possibility to go low and fast, sometimes even too fast for me to get sharp photos, but I wanted to include these impressions nevertheless in the images that follow: German Tornados (ECR, IDS & RECCE) - low and fastThe pilots of Luftwaffe Transalls and Heeresflieger CH-53 GS used the exercise as a most welcomed opportunity to train themselves for their missions abroad and were also the most rewarding motives due to the frequent release of chaff and flares throughout their timeslot in the area. Flying together with the CH-53s were Bo-105 that should be replaced soon by the Tiger as the new combat helicopter for the German Army. Heeresflieger CH-53 GSGerman C-160 TransallBo 105The GFD was using its Learjets for the exercise, which are permanently equipped in an electronic warfare (EW) configuration. Support in their role was given by the Falcon 20 of the UK-based FR Aviation. These jammers were based at Neuburg during ELITE. Jammers: GfD Learjets, FRA Falcon 20Flying from Landsberg/Penzing were also the French C-160 Transall and Polish C295 transport aircraft that closely followed each other in the 'parcours' at the Heuberg range. Though different in size and age, their flying was quite similar and an interesting sight. Another propeller aircraft was a German Navy SIGINT Atlantic, but this aircraft was not seen in the air during my visit in the area. French C-160 Transall & Polish Casa C295Jets of participating nations were also seen in the air around the Heuberg, however most of them stayed high while practising their attacks and bombing runs and only came in relatively low from time to time, so these photos here are just for the completion of my ELITE impressions: Turksih F-4E-2020 Phantom II "Terminator"Turkish F-16C & USAFE F-16CJPolish Su-22 & Greek F-16CA better possibility to see the jets is the organized "Spotterday" at Lechfeld, the main base for all the jets. Unfortunately the weather was not that good during my visit, but the results can bee seen on the next page.
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