AVIANO – Spangdahlem air base (GermanyLander Rhineland-Palatinate a few kilometers from the border with Luxembourg) and the USAF one of Aviano united in an exercise that gives you chills. Because the scenario is one that precedes a war escalation nuclear, albeit with the use of tactical and non-strategic weapons. And the seriousness of the operation is demonstrated by the technical clothing used by the soldiers involved in the exercise: apocalyptic, indeed. In detail, it was a special operation to rescue and decontaminate an F-16 arriving from an area of high radioactivity.
Nuclear attack on the Aviano base
The high tension on the global geopolitical chessboard has made a real nuclear scenario credible – even if not at all desirable – and therefore not just theoretical and based on the concept of mutual deterrence. Even on the Ukrainian battlefield, for example, there has often been talk of the possibility of use – by Russia – of tactical atomic weapons, therefore with reduced potential compared to strategic warheads. And also in Aviano it was decided to intensify the exercises in order to be ready to operate in such contexts too. In detail, during the exercise also staged in Aviano, the F-16 fighter aviators are learning how to safely relaunch an aircraft exposed to nuclear radiation.
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The classroom lessons were followed by a dress rehearsal. The airmen were covered from head to toe in yellow protective suits, rubber boots, gloves and a gas mask. The response involved more than 30 Airmen from various professional backgrounds, including emergency responders, medical personnel, refuelers, aircraft equipment workers, weapons crews and maintenance workers. Electronic personal dosimeters, about the size of a credit card, were attached to suits to monitor individual radiation exposure, and other instruments detected the level of radioactive particles in the air and on the plane. According to the scenario, the adversaries had used tactical nuclear weapons against the allies. «A counterattack mission could have taken place through radioactive material – explained Joe Potaczek, one of the two instructors -. The idea is, “How does the Air Force continue the mission? – he said – How can we keep the plane in flight and at the same time protect people?”. The training can be applied to a variety of situations, such as radiation exposure resulting from a nuclear power plant accident, such as that in Fukushima, Japan, following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
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Radiation
For the exercise also staged in Aviano, the aviators entered the data into an Excel spreadsheet and calculated the hypothetical radiation exposure. This information allows commanders to assess risks. Wearing gas masks, airmen learned to communicate with hand signals, such as tapping each other on the head if they felt sick. Maintainers had to carefully inspect the plane’s air intake, looking for nicks or dents on the engine blades.
The flight of the F-16s
Meanwhile, other noteworthy movements are taking place, but this time they have to do with the Middle Eastern geopolitical panorama and not with that of Eastern Europe. According to various funds, in fact, aSome F-16s from the USAF base in Aviano made a “stop” at the Prince Sultan military air base in Saudi Arabia. The country has been an ally of the United States of America in the region for years and relations have been further strengthened since the risk of escalation between Israel and the Islamic Republic of Iran has become more real than ever. In this case Aviano functions as a logistical base for travel.
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