Airmail 485: DACT | Airportzentrale.de

DACT is an acronym for Disparate Air Combat Training. It is about the interaction of different types of aircraft from different countries, as they are trained in the largest air exercise in NATO history. This should increase effectiveness. It was common for aircraft of the same design and type, perhaps even of the same squadron, to engage in aerial combat. This has long been recognized as unrealistic. Today the scenario might look like this: Four or eight bombers from a squadron are assigned the task of destroying a designated target. You will be accompanied by our fighter jets. There are also planes in the crowd that can blind the enemy’s radar with electronic jamming measures. Depending on the nature of the mission and the balance of forces and weapons, the attack may be supported by ground attack aircraft such as the armored A-10, or by attack helicopters. The opposing forces, in turn, patrol their airspace and, in cooperation with their ground forces, try to prevent a successful attack. All of this is monitored and controlled from an AWACS flight command post above the plane of the movement. Fight situations, flight situations and simulated kills are recorded electronically. 25 countries practice common Their air force response in case of crisis. Germany plays a leading role and is the logistical hub. Guest machines fly from Lechfeld, Wunstorf, Geilenkirchen, Schleswig, Hohn, Spangdahlem and Neuburg.

The exercise runs from June 12-23, 2023 and promises exciting sights, such as 250 aircraft and 10,000 soldiers from Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Italy, Japan, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania and the Netherlands. Norway, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Slovenia, Spain, the Czech Republic, Turkey, Hungary, the United States and the United Kingdom will fly together or against each other for the first time. The US Air Force transports 190 aircraft from 35 US states to Europe alone! There are also many troop carriers and tanker aircraft.

This cannot be done without affecting civilian air traffic. Each state in the EUROCONTROL area operates an “Airspace Management Cell (AMC)” staffed by both civilian and military personnel. There, dormant military airspaces over Europe are temporarily activated or actively closed when not in use. Thus, the shortcuts are open to civilian air traffic and do not need to follow the heavy routes between other restricted civilian areas. During these two weeks, flights and short cuts cannot be expected to be as flexible and planable as usual. In the past, the limitations of supposed common law were not always understood. Flying schools and paragliding and paragliding clubs were threatened with lawsuits because she was forced to stand still for 14 days. This flying exercise is not about the private pleasure of leisure, but about a deadly dangerous exercise, the significance of which is evident to all of us. And pilots who have to bring their high-performance machines to a destination at low altitude need the vigilance of a Formula 1 driver. In the moment, they have little sympathy for their father, who happily glides his glider through the heat in front of their cockpit.

Andrew Vicker