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Ocean Sky 2025

Ocean Sky refers to an international air combat exercise held every two years by the Spanish Air and Space Force at Gando Air Base, and which is the successor to the legendary DACT exercises that used to take place annually at this air base. The 2025 edition was the one that brought together the largest number of participating countries and aircraft, with the base’s ramp reaching the limit of its capacity at the busiest moments of the exercise.

Among the participants, the four Sukhoi Su-30MKI fighters of the Indian Air Force undoubtedly stood out for their exotic and unusual nature. Not only because India was the first non-NATO country to take part, but also because it operated modern fighters of Russian design equipped with thrust-vectoring engines. Also noteworthy were the fourteen F-15E Strike Eagle fighters from the 48th Fighter Wing of the United States Air Force, marking the first time this version of the iconic F-15 took part in the exercise. The German Air Force deployed five Eurofighter Typhoons from the “Bavarian Tigers,” including one painted in this year’s NATO TIGER MEET special livery, which took place in Portugal. The other two international participants were more familiar from previous editions: the Portuguese Air Force with its F-16AMs and the Hellenic Air Force with F-16Cs.

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Festa al Cel 2025

La Festa al Cel is one of the most important air festivals held in Spain, and this year it took place on the beaches of Salou. This year’s edition attracted a great deal of attention for three reasons: first, it had not been held since 2019; second, the strong participation of the Spanish Air and Space Force; and third, the fact that there were three days of aerial activity, including rehearsals, a sunset/night air show, and a full festival on Sunday.

In addition, Eurofighter and EF-18 fighter jets from the Air and Space Force made several fly-bys over the beach upon arrival on Friday and departure on Sunday. On Saturday morning, we were also able to see an OV-10 Bronco being chased by several participants over the skies of Salou during a photo flight that included, among others, the Army’s CH-47F Chinook, the Maritime Rescue AW-139, and Juan Velarde’s Edge 540.

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RIAT 2025

The Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) is the largest military air show in the world, held annually at RAF Fairford in the United Kingdom. The 2025 edition of this festival did not disappoint, featuring a large number of participants in both dynamic and static displays that were as interesting as they were exotic. In the YouTube playlist accompanying this article…

In the static display, standout aircraft included the Antonov An-74 from the Egyptian Air Force and the fantastic participation of the Pakistan Air Force, which brought two JF-17C Thunder fighters of Chinese manufacture, an IL-78 Midas aerial refueling aircraft, and a C-130 Hercules transport aircraft with a spectacular and eye-catching livery. Also noteworthy was the strong presence of aircraft from the United States Air Force, especially with planes that are commonly seen at European air shows, such as the B-1B bomber, the C-5M Galaxy transport aircraft, and the RC-135 reconnaissance plane. Perhaps less exotic but certainly interesting was the pair of Mirage 2000-5EG/BG fighters from the Hellenic Air Force. The display of AH-64E Apache Guardian helicopters was also of interest, coming from the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the U.S. Army, and especially one from the Qatar Emiri Air Force, featuring an attractive desert camouflage.

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ARMED FORCES DAY 2025 (DIFAS25)

The Canary Islands hosted the celebration of Armed Forces Day 2025 (DIFAS25), with numerous exhibitions and displays taking place in both provincial capitals, Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. In this publication, we will focus on the aeronautical activities that took place. All of the events we will describe below can be viewed in the YouTube playlist available on the website.

Santa Cruz de Tenerife

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TLP Flying Course 24-4

The FC 2024-04 flight course will begin next Monday, November 11, and will conclude on Friday, November 29, with an expected duration of 3 weeks. The total number of personnel that the TLP will host for this course is approximately 900, with 37 of them being participants aiming for graduation, including 26 aircrew members, 6 intelligence officers, and 5 tactical air traffic controllers. Flights will take place from Monday to Friday in the afternoon, starting on Monday, November 18, as the first week will be dedicated to academic activities and missions in the TLP simulator (MACE).

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EXERCISE SIRIO 2024.

The Spanish Air and Space Force (SASF) carried out its main exercise at Gando Air Base in the Canary Islands during the last two weeks of October. This exercise, called SIRIO, test all the capabilities of the SASF, including command, control & communications, cyber warfare, combat operations, search and rescue, joint operations, special force operations etc.

A good number of aircraft were deployed to Gando from the mainland, including EF-18M Hornet from 12th and 15th Fighter Wings, Eurofighter EF2000 from 14th and 11th Fighter Wings, Airbus C-295 tactical transports from 35th Wing, NH-90 “Lobo” helicopters from 48th Wing and a A400M configured as a tanker from 31th Wing. An UAS MQ-9B Reaper from 23th Wing also took part, in this case operating from Lanzarote Military Airfield. This edition of Sirio included a rare participation from a foreign country, Portugal, which sent F-16AM fighters to take part in the exercise. The last but not least, the locally based 46th Wing also took part with their EF-18A Hornet, while their CN-235 and Super Puma carried out SAR duties.

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OCEAN SKY 2023.

Ocean Sky (OS) exercise is the biggest international air combat exercise organized by the Spanish Air Force and one of the few of this kind that took place in Europe, mainly because it is entirely focused on air to air missions. OS is hold each two years at Gando Air Base in the Canary Islands. Fighters taking part in this year edition included EF-18 Hornets from 12th, 15th and 46th Combat Wings, Eurofighters EF-2000 from 11th and 14th Combat Wings of the Spanish Air and Space Force, F-16Cs from both Hellenic Air Force and Turkish Air Force and F-16AM from the Portuguese Air Force.

Photos by Edilia Luis:

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TACTICAL LEADERSHIP PROGRAMME FLYING COURSE 2023-4

The Tactical Leadership Programme (TLP) Flying Course 2023-4 (FC 23-4) took place during the second half of November at Albacete Air Base, Spain. The main goal of the TLP courses is the advanced training in tactical leadership and planning for fighter pilots and aerial controllers during complex composite air operations (COMAO) where a large number of fighter and support assets take part. Participants in this course included Eurofighters from Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, Mirage 2000 from Greece, Rafale M from French Navy, EF-18 Hornet from Spain, L-159 ALCA from Czech Republic, Alpha Jet from France, and F-16C from Poland.

Photos by Edilia Luis:

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ROYAL INTERNATIONAL AIR TATTOO 2023

Last summer we got the chance to attend the Royal International Air Tattoo, the biggest military air show in the world with hundreds of aircraft both in the static and dynamic displays. One of the main focus of this year edition was in aerial refuelling and we got the chance to see a good number of tankers flying aerial refuelling demos, including A400M with two Tornados from the German Air Force, an A330 MRTT from the Royal Air Force with a Swedish Gripen and a Finnish Hornet and a MC-130J with a MV-22 Osprey.

This year we also saw for the first time the new E version of the Saab Gripen in flight which was one of the hihglights and a replica of the first jet fighter that entered in operational service, the Mesersmith Me-262. Another highlights were the “Dream Viper” Demo from the Belgian Air Force, the Finnish Hornet solo display, the French Rafale Solo Display and of course the Spanish Navy AV-8B Harrier, which flew with the Royal Air Force F-35B Lightning II.

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10 YEARS WITHOUT MIRAGE F-1 IN SPAIN

The Dassault Mirage F-1 was the backbone of the Spanish Air Force fighter force during a good number of years, flying in three different fighter wings at Manises, Gando and Los Llanos. However 14th Fighter Wing at Los Llanos in Albacete, was the first and last unit flying the french made fighter over Spain, retiring its remaining Mirages in the summer of 2013 to be sold to an American private company which is using them nowadays as adversary support for different military braches of the United States. The pictures and videos that can be seen in this web were taken in 2010 and 2011, when the 14th Fighter Wing 141 & 142 Fighter squadrons were still flying the F-1M at full swing.

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