From May 9 to 27, 2024, LA 21st base of the Čáslav Tactical Air Force will host the international air exercise Lion Effort 2024 (LE24), which will be attended by 500 soldiers, including approximately 150 soldiers from abroad and more than twenty aircraft. The flight part of the exercise is planned from May 13 to 24.
Lion Effort is the fifth exercise of the group of states operating the JAS-39 Gripen aircraft, which is known by the abbreviation GUG (Gripen Users Group). In 2009, the host was the Republic of Hungary, the second exercise of this kind took place in 2012 in the Kingdom of Sweden, the third in 2015 in the Czech Republic and the fourth in 2018 again in the Republic of Hungary. In 2021, this exercise was canceled due to the COVID-19 epidemic.
The Lion Effort 2024 air exercise will be special this year for several reasons, most notably that the Swedish Air Force will participate in the exercise for the first time as LA 32nd member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. This year's Lion Effort will also include the Ramstein Guard 2024 exercise, which is focused on conducting combat activities in electronic warfare conditions, focused on the activities of flight crews in conditions of jamming of onboard radars, radio communications and GPS satellite navigation systems. Last but not least, the A-330MRTT aircraft will be available for in-flight refueling training as part of the NATO - Multinational Multi-Role Tanker and Transport Fleet (MMF) program, which the Czech Republic joined last year.
It's herself the flight part of the exercise is planned from 13 to 24 May 2024. Behind the GUG, the Gripen aircraft of the Air Force of the Czech Republic, the Republic of Hungary and the Kingdom of Sweden will participate in the LE24 exercise. The Kingdom of Thailand, as well as the Air Force of Brazil, will participate in the exercise without their aircraft. Other LE24 participants will be Czech L-159 fighters or the C-295 CASA transport aircraft, the FA-20 Falcon interceptor aircraft belonging to the Draken company, the German Eurofighter Typhoon, the Polish F-16 and the A-330MRTT refueling aircraft operating from the home base.
For such extensive air exercises, a total of three flight areas, designated as LION, and two corridors for overflights between individual areas or for flying at low flight level, designated as SW, had to be set aside in the airspace of the Czech Republic. The exercise program will be divided into two main blocks. In the morning hours 08:00 - 09:30 UTC a mission will be carried out according to a complex scenario under the coordination of all trainees (so-called Composite Air Operations – COMAO) and that most often in the LION 1 and LION 2 areas. In the afternoon 13:00 - 15:00 UTC, the so-called Shadow Wave missions will follow, which will be focused on maneuver air combat, direct air support tasks, including in-flight refueling, most often in LION 3, SW 1 and SW 2 areas, as well as in activated areas according to the AUP (TRA 3x – airspace above Vysočina and TRA 1x – airspace near the airbase in Náměšt).
More than twenty aircraft will thus have a unique opportunity to practice air combat tactics together and practice techniques and procedures to increase combat capability and interoperability within the alliance. We ask the general aviation public to understand and respect the restrictions on the use of airspace that an exercise of this magnitude brings with it.
Prepared by members of the Combat Training Department of the Air Force Command of the Czech Republic