[MilCom] Exercise Maple Flag XXXIX, 4 Wing Cold Lake, Alta.May 14 - June 23

[rob.berezowski at sasktel.sk.ca]

Greetings everyone,

Exercise Maple Flag XXXIX is set to begin next week at 4 Wing Cold Lake, 
Alberta. Maple Flag is a six week exercise, and is split into three 2 week 
periods. It is a large International air combat simulation exercise, 
including air superiority, conventional ground attack, tactical resupply, 
reconnaissance,  SEAD (suppression of enemy air defense), air to air 
refueling, electronic warfare, and AWACS operations. The exercise periods 
are:

Period 1 May 14 - May 26
Period 2 May 28 - June 9
Period 3 June 11 - June 23

Most of the aircraft will be flying into and out of 4 Wing Cold Lake on 
the "transition Saturdays", namely May 13, May 27 and June 10. This 
includes the participating aircraft as well as support aircraft 
(transports). For those not near Cold Lake, these days would be good days 
to try to catch a lot of this traffic flying into and out of Cold Lake. 

The press releases say they are expecting about 5000 personnel to be 
involved in the exercise. The nations and groups participating in Maple 
Flag this year, in the role of "Blue Air" Allied Forces are:

Canadian Forces
German Air Force
French Air Force
NATO AWACS 
Royal Air Force
Royal Netherlands Air Force
Royal New Zealand Air Force
Republic of Singapore Air Force
Swedish Air Force
United States Air Force

(I'm sorry that I don't have any more details on actual squadrons that 
will be participating. It's a safe bet we'll have one USAF AWACS from 
Tinker AFB though.)

The "Red Air" Opposing Forces will be represented by:

414 CTS (United States Air Force) 
64th AGRS (United States Air Force aggressor squadron) 
266th Range Squadron (United States Air National Guard) 
Top Aces 

In addition, a number of nations are sending military personnel who are 
observing but not participating in Maple Flag:

Brazil 
Poland 
Greece 
Oman 
Egypt 
Singapore 

One country that will not be participating will be Turkey. As a result of 
a diplomatic spat caused by a statement made by Canadian Prime Minister 
Harper, Turkey has withdrawn from the exercise. They were planning on 
sending a half dozen aircraft, as well as support aircraft and personnel. 
The Turkish government has also recalled the Turkish ambassador over this 
matter. More details are in the newspaper article below:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060510.TURKEY10/TPStory/?query=turkey+cold+lake


Rob Berezowski
Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada




NOTICE:  This confidential e-mail message is only for the intended 
recipient(s). If you are not the intended recipient, be advised that 
disclosing, copying, distributing, or any other use of this message, is 
strictly prohibited. In such case, please destroy this message and notify 
the sender.