The Quest for Relevant Air Power

GERMAN Air Force │ 175
eration was the establishment of the Tri-national Tornado Training
Establishment at Cottesmore, UK, in 1979. This cooperation
was particularly aimed at achieving standardisation and interoperability
amongst European Tornado operators. Divergence in
national midlife updates, however, made the operation of a common
fleet of training aircraft impracticable in the late 1990s. 154
After the trilateral arrangement for Tornado training ceased
in March 1999, the GAF transferred basic weapon systems training
and advanced training on the Tornado to Holloman AFB,
New Mexico. 155 Until December 2004, when the F-4F training
squadron was disbanded, the training of German Phantom
crews was collocated at Holloman AFB. 156 With these steps, the
GAF centralised the entire basic training of German F-4F and
Tornado crews in the United States. 157
Almost simultaneously with this increasing involvement in
the United States, the GAF became a member of the EAG on 12
July 1999, a step that has fostered European standardisation
and interoperability. 158
Cooperation on an Operational Level. Besides combined air
operations, examined in the following section, the GAF has deepened
its international expertise through participation in integrated
exercises, particularly the Flag exercises in the United
States and in Canada. GAF participation at Red Flag started in
1989. In the ensuing years, the GAF, with its MiG-29s, became a
sought-after training partner. 159
In 1995 the GAF itself established an annual integrated and
combined air exercise in Germany, called ELITE (Electronic Warfare
Live Training Exercise). Not only flying units benefit from
this integrated exercise but also German SAM units. Apart from
Exercise ELITE, German SAM units have regularly participated in
the annual exercise Roving Sands in Texas and New Mexico and
in the Dutch exercise series Joint Project Optic Windmill. 160
How Has the German Air Force Responded
to the Challenges of Real Operations?
During the Cold War, the German armed forces were involved
in a number of humanitarian operations to alleviate the effects of