It is of vital importance that an attacking aircraft is discovered at the greatest possible distance. This gives time for identification, decision and action. But when the electronic picture on the radar screen either goes completely black or completely party-coloured, an aircraft can approach at high speed without being noticed by the crew in the ops-room.

Exactly situations of this kind are trained during DANEX 08 where the English company FR Aviation participates with four aircraft. Two which can jam both radar and communication and two aircraft which pose as attack aircraft and can operate in different threat modes.

Every day the four aircraft take off twice and their time for each mission is more than two hours. This gives valuable time to train the ship’s crews in how to react when their radar or communication is jammed.

Typically the two jamming aircraft go up to an altitude of 8000 feet and start their jamming while flying on a course towards a ship or a group of ships. At the same time the two attack aircraft are ready to start their attack run from a lower altitude, when the ship’s sensor systems are stunned. Also the ship’s targeting radar can be jammed electronically. Quick reaction from the operator can prevent that the air picture on the screen is lost. This is exactly the purpose of the exercise which is repeated over and over to train the radar operators and give them routine.

During DANEX 08 FR Aviation is based at Air Transport Wing Aalborg.