Fly the Friendly Skies: Crisis Response Marines participate in multilateral NATO Aviation Exercise

Photo By Gunnery Sgt. Tia Nagle | Officers of different NATO countries familiarize themselves with the MV-22B Osprey during the Tactical Leadership Program at Albacete, Spain, Sept 29. 2016. The TLP is a multinational flight exercise used to train pilots in Tactical Recovery of Aircraft and Personnel and other advanced flight operations. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Staff Sgt. Tia Nagle)  

ALBACETE, SPAIN

09.27.2016

Story by 1st Lt. John McCombs 

U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Europe and Africa     

ALBACETE, Spain – MV-22B Ospreys with Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force-Crisis Response-Africa flew with the added support of foreign fighter jets acting as their escorts during the Tactical Leadership Program at Albacete, Spain, Sept. 23-27, 2016.
The TLP is a multinational flight exercise used to train pilots in Tactical Recovery of Aircraft and Personnel. For this most recent iteration, SPMAGTF-CR-AF MV-22s participated in the training, acting as the insertion aircraft while NATO aircraft assumed the roles of their escorts.
“There were American F-15E, Spanish Eurofighters, F-16s from Greece, F-18s from Switzerland, French fighters, German fighters, Italian fighters, and a NATO AWACs,” said Captain Curtis Thiel, a MV-22 pilot with SPMAGTF-CR-AF.
The training allowed SPMAGTF-CR-AF the opportunity to conduct numerous missions alongside NATO allies to include mountain area training, combat air assault, air evacuation and reduced visibility landings. However, some of the most useful training was the ability to conduct low-altitude tactics.
“The biggest lesson learned was really that we have the ability to fly low in Spain. That in itself is experience we can’t get while on this deployment on a regular basis,” Thiel said. “The TLP exercise goes four times a year and if we can participate in it, then we have the opportunity to conduct LAT both day and night, during the exercise. We can use that knowledge to keep aircrew current while on deployment.”
The training not only familiarized foreign nations with the capabilities of the MV-22 and as an extension, the SPMAGTF-CR-AF but it also greatly increased the proficiency of SPMAGTF-CR-AF pilots.
“This increased our aircrew readiness and experience to a new level. We were able to get new pilots experience in all the mission skill sets, update the senior pilots experience and overall just do realistic training,” said Thiel. “This is by far some of the best training I have ever done.”

• Date Taken: 09.27.2016
• Date Posted: 10.12.2016 05:48
• Story ID: 211404
• Location: ALBACETE, ES