Summary
- Swiss Air Force conducted remote operations exercise as, “The global security situation has changed”.
- Exercise Alpha Uno focused on highway operations of the Swiss Air Force.
- Similar exercises being conducted in Finland, Sweden, and the US.
The Swiss Air Force just conducted an exercise of remote operations from a runway. With airports likely early targets for any air war, the ability to escape and operate from remote locations that are harder to find is key for fixed-wing combat aircraft to continue to deliver combat power.
Why Swiss Air Force’s Exercise Alpha Uno
Although Switzerland has a neutrality policy, the nation has an air force using F/A-18 Hornets and soon F-35s to replace the F/A-18s to defend Swiss sovereignty. In many French-language reports, Russia’s War on Ukraine would come up – especially as one of the opening moves of the 2022 invasion was a heliborne assault on Hostomel Airport, a key airport close to Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital. One can watch some Russian KA-52 Hokum attack helicopter footage below:
As you can see above, the area around Hostomel Airport became very contested and as such, no one would want to plan on regular fighter jet operations from fixed airbases. With rising Russian aggression, the time was right to show the ability to operate from highways. As quoted in a translated srf.ch report, Lieutenant Colonel and Commander of Air Wing 11, Mario Schwarz said;
“The global security situation has changed. At some point, this decentralization – especially on highways – stopped because the threat scenarios and the army’s missions changed with the end of the Cold War.”
Now that the why has been explained, let’s discuss the what.
What Was Swiss Air Force’s Exercise Alpha Uno
However, the exercise would require the highway to be closed well in advance to remove highway barriers. Below, you can watch the A1 highway being prepared between Payerne and Avenches for the exercise:
Additionally, according to a Google translation of the same srf.ch report, the exercise involved more than takeoffs and landings. Maintenance events like changing a flat tire and refueling occurred, as did the deployment of firefighting equipment just in case. There were two cycles of take-offs and landings, the second cycle with different pilots.
Similar to exercises in NATO nations
Switzerland’s Alpha Uno exercise has many parallels. Several nations in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization or NATO have conducted such exercises like Finland and Sweden. Below you can watch a quick YouTube of a Finnish F/A-18 doing a touch-and-go on a Finnish highway:
You can also watch a Swedish Saab Gripen perform similar training:
As Captain Patrik Lange, Pilot, Swedish Air Force shared above in the “NATO Channel” video both the why and how from a fighter pilot’s perspective,
“You’re quite vulnerable around the main airbase if you get on the cruise missile attack or whatever you see in Ukraine, you know, the whole base can be destroyed. There is no way to again lift off with your aircraft or land and refuel and so on. So, with this system, you have like multiple small road systems all over the country. And so we can just drop down at one that is active. So, it’s good for survivability in wartime, I would say.’ Since it’s a lot shorter and narrower, you have to be more careful where to point your nose, of course. And you don’t have that much margin in case anything goes wrong, you know.’”
These principles were also discovered by pilots of the 107th Fighter Squadron of the 127th Wing of the US Air Force’s Michigan Air National Guard A-10s on exercise Northern Agility 22-1 as you can see below:
Normally, the US Air Force operates from large air bases protected by combat air patrols and layers of air defenses, but the US Air Force is being pushed to innovate and working on agile employment concepts.
Other fun Swiss Air Force exercises
The Swiss Air Force conducts other fun exercises. For instance, Swiss F/A-18s did a practice intercept of a SWISS Airbus A220:
Related
Cool: SWISS Aviation Trainees Get To Experience F/A-18 Hornet Intercept Onboard Airbus A220
A live demonstration of a military intercept.
Of course, if the US Air National Guard were to work with an airline to offer seats to watch a similar scramble, Simple Flying readers would buy all the tickets. Instead, SWISS International Air lines let SPHAIR students have the flight of a lifetime the way the US Air National Guard teams up with the US Air Force Auxiliary, the Civil Air Patrol for similar intercept drills:
Additionally, the Swiss Air Force invites the public to watch their annual live firing exercise at AXALP. You can watch some of the action in the Swiss Alps below:
Sometimes guest stars get invited to AXALP like the F-35 seen above and as per below the Saab Gripen:
Ultimately this demonstration of preparedness will hopefully deter aggression worldwide. If not, rest assured the Swiss Air Forces and a growing number of NATO air forces are getting ready.
Do you want to attend air force exercises? Please share in the comments.