MILAVIA > Specials > Anatolian Eagle 2016 Last updated: 30 December 2016
MILAVIA Military Aviation Specials

Exercise Report : Anatolian Eagle 2016

ANATOLIAN EAGLE 2016 patch

Exercise Anatolian Eagle 2016 - Konya, Turkey

Report and photos by Renzo Del Bianco from the annual Anatolian Eagle exercise hosted by the Turkish Air Force.

The 2016 edition of the Anatolian Eagle took place at Konya Air Base between May 30 and June 10 and involved aerial components of the Turkish Air Force, Turkish Navy, Italian Air Force, Pakistan Air Force, Royal Saudi Air Force, Royal Netherlands Air Force and the NATO AEW&C Force.

Following Turkish Air Force participation in Red Flag in 1997 and a pair of bi-lateral exercises in 1998 with the U.S. Air Force, the Anatolian Eagle exercises started in June 2001 at Konya Air Base involving the Turkish Air Force, United States Air Force and Israeli Air Force. The reason of setting up the exercise was to reduce the loss of pilots and aircraft caused by unexperience and to increase the interoperability among air forces of different countries. Throughout all these years many facilities have been built, such as the wide aircraft ramp named Eagle, surrounded by buildings for maintenance and storage, where foreign and national aerial assets are stationing during the exercise. From 2001 to 2016 the Anatolian Eagle exercises has hosted in total more than 2600 aircraft from 14 countries and NATO, and it has produced about 22870 sorties. With large exercise areas available over land and sea, that extend 50,000 square miles in surface and up to 50,000 feet from the ground, equipped with modern threat systems, the Turkish Air Force can organize an absolute full-scale exercise similar to Red Flag and Maple Flag.

In Anatolian Eagle exercises there are two adversary aerial components, Red Force and Blue Force. Red Force is formed by Konya AB resident unit 132 Filo, which operates the F-16 in the aggressor role, and by ground controllers, codenamed Redeye, which monitor the operations over the range and make use of different threat systems against Blue Force aircraft.

Blue Force is formed by deployed units (national and foreign) assisted by NATO E-3A (Konya is an Forward Operating Base for NATO’s AEW&C Force) or resident E-7T belonging to 131 Filo. Resident helicopters UH-1H and AS.532AL belonging to 135 Filo participate by carrying out Combat Search and Rescue for Blue Force.

All participating aircraft are controlled in real time by a White Force. This component develops scenarios, establishes different level of training and composition of aerial assets according to the different scheduled missions (CSAR, CAS, SEAD, AAR, A-G, DCA, etc.) and, of course, analyzes results of the missions with debriefing for the participating crews.

The pictures of this report were taken between Wednesday, June 8, and Friday, June 10. Two different missions were usually flown each day. During our stay, on Wednesday two missions were launched and on Thursday morning the last Eagle mission of the exercise was flown. Afterwards we were able to witness the afternoon departures of all Turkish Air Force F-16s and F-4s, as well as the Italian Tornado IDS/ECR aircraft to their home bases. The following day, on Friday morning, the Pakistani F-16s and Saudi Tornados departed to their respective countries. The RSAF Tornados were supported by both the new Airbus 330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport as well as the KE-3A tanker conversion based on the classic Boeing 707.


I’d like to thank Turkish Air Force and Public Affairs, as well as 3űncű Ana Jet Üs personnel, in enabling us to take pictures from wonderful locations and for having sent exhaustive news regarding the exercise in advance.

Turkish Air Force CN-235M-100 93-064
NATO AEW&CF E-3A Sentry 90458 LX-N
Italian Air Force C-27J Spartan 46-82 M.M.62218
Turkish Air Force F-16D Fighting Falcon 90-0024
Turkish Air Force F-16D Fighting Falcon 07-1015
Italian Air Force Tornado IDS 6-55 M.M.7004
Pakistan Air Force F-16B MLU Fighting Falcon 90617
Pakistan Air Force F-16B MLU Fighting Falcon 90617
Pakistan Air Force F-16A MLU Fighting Falcon 84705
Pakistan Air Force F-16A MLU Fighting Falcon 84705
Pakistan Air Force F-16A MLU Fighting Falcon 85728
Pakistan Air Force F-16A MLU Fighting Falcon 85728
Turkish Air Force F-16D Fighting Falcon 94-1558
Turkish Air Force F-16D Fighting Falcon 88-0014
Turkish Air Force F-16C Fighting Falcon 91-0003
Turkish Air Force F-16C Fighting Falcon 91-0005
Turkish Air Force F-16C Fighting Falcon 93-0007
Pakistan Air Force F-16A MLU Fighting Falcon 84713
Pakistan Air Force F-16A MLU Fighting Falcon 85728
Turkish Air Force UH-1H Iroquois 69-15649
Turkish Air Force E-7T AEW&C 13-003
Turkish Air Force F-16D Fighting Falcon 07-1015
Turkish Air Force F-16D Fighting Falcon 92-0023
Turkish Air Force F-16D Fighting Falcon 07-1015
Turkish Air Force F-16C Fighting Falcon 89-0031
Turkish Air Force F-16D Fighting Falcon 90-0024
Pakistan Air Force F-16B MLU Fighting Falcon 92618
Pakistan Air Force F-16A MLU Fighting Falcon 92731
Turkish Air Force F-16C Fighting Falcon 07-1012
Turkish Air Force F-16D Fighting Falcon 07-1022
Pakistan Air Force F-16B MLU Fighting Falcon 90617
Pakistan Air Force F-16A MLU Fighting Falcon 84713
Turkish Air Force F-16C Fighting Falcon 94-0091
Turkish Air Force F-16C Fighting Falcon 07-1014
Turkish Air Force F-16C Fighting Falcon 07-1014
Italian Air Force C-27J Spartan 46-82 M.M.62218
Turkish Air Force F-16D Fighting Falcon 94-1558
Turkish Air Force F-16C Fighting Falcon 93-0687
Turkish Air Force F-4E-2020 Terminator 73-1027
Turkish Air Force F-4E-2020 Terminator 77-0301
Turkish Air Force F-4E-2020 Terminator 73-1022
Turkish Air Force F-4E-2020 Terminator 73-1022
Turkish Air Force F-4E-2020 Terminator 73-1023
Turkish Air Force F-4E-2020 Terminator 73-1023
Turkish Air Force F-4E-2020 Terminator 73-1027
Turkish Air Force F-4E-2020 Terminator 73-1027
Turkish Air Force F-4E-2020 Terminator 73-1027
Pakistan Air Force C-130E Hercules 4171
Royal Netherlands Air Force KDC-10 T-235
Royal Saudi Air Force A330 MRTT 2401
Royal Saudi Air Force A330 MRTT 2401
Royal Netherlands Air Force KDC-10 T-235
Italian Air Force Tornado IDS 6-63 M.M.7023
Italian Air Force Tornado IDS 6-63 M.M.7023
Italian Air Force Tornado ECR 50-42 M.M.7055
Italian Air Force Tornado ECR 50-47 M.M.7059
Turkish Air Force AS.532AL Cougar 992505
Turkish Air Force F-16C Fighting Falcon 07-1014
Turkish Air Force F-16D Fighting Falcon 89-0042
Turkish Air Force F-4E-2020 Terminator fourship
Turkish Air Force F-16C Fighting Falcon 89-0031
Turkish Air Force F-16C Fighting Falcon 91-0001
Turkish Air Force F-16C Fighting Falcon 91-0001
Turkish Air Force F-16D Fighting Falcon 07-1029
Turkish Air Force F-16C Fighting Falcon 90-0010
Turkish Air Force F-4E-2020 Terminator 68-0498
Turkish Air Force F-4E-2020 Terminator 73-1031
Turkish Air Force F-4E-2020 Terminator 73-1031
Turkish Air Force F-4E-2020 Terminator 73-1031
Turkish Air Force F-16D Fighting Falcon 90-0023
Turkish Air Force F-16C Fighting Falcon 94-0088
Turkish Air Force F-16D Fighting Falcon 99-0045
Turkish Air Force F-16C Fighting Falcon 94-0078
Turkish Air Force F-16C Fighting Falcon 94-0078
Turkish Air Force E-7T AEW&C 13-003
Turkish Air Force E-7T AEW&C 13-003
Turkish Air Force A400M 13-0009
Turkish Air Force A400M 13-0009
Turkish Air Force A400M 13-0009
Turkish Air Force C-130B Hercules 57-0527
Royal Saudi Air Force Tornado IDS 7506
Royal Saudi Air Force Tornado IDS 7506
Royal Saudi Air Force Tornado IDS 7514
Royal Saudi Air Force Tornado IDS 7514
Royal Saudi Air Force Tornado IDS 7518
Royal Saudi Air Force Tornado IDS 7518
Royal Saudi Air Force Tornado IDS 8309
Royal Saudi Air Force Tornado IDS 7506
Royal Saudi Air Force Tornado IDS(R) 6615
Royal Saudi Air Force Tornado IDS 758
Royal Saudi Air Force Tornado IDS 757
Royal Saudi Air Force Tornado IDS 761
Royal Saudi Air Force Tornado IDS 757 and 761
Royal Saudi Air Force KE-3A 2307
Turkish Air Force AS.532AL Cougar 99-2505
Royal Netherlands Air Force KDC-10 T-235
NATO AEW&CF E-3A Sentry LX-N 90458
Turkish Air Force CN-235M-100 96-119
Turkish Air Force CN-235M-100 92-056
Turkish Air Force C-130E Hercules 68-01606
Pakistan Air Force C-130E Hercules 4159
Pakistan Air Force C-130E Hercules 4159
Turkish Air Force F-16C Fighting Falcon 94-0092


Report and photos by Renzo Del Bianco ( view portfolio )





First Published: 30 December 2016
Last Modified: 30 December 2016