From 30 August to 19 September 2021, the 8th year of the international Ample Strike exercise will take place, which is aimed at harmonizing the activities of Forward Air Controllers with aircraft and helicopter crews and ground commanders in a multinational environment, practicing direct air support tasks, verification of the host country's ability to provide support to foreign units (Host Nation Support), the ability to refuel in flight (pilots of JAS-39 Gripen aircraft).

Picture: Forward Air Controller at work | Ministry of Defense of the Czech Republic

The exercise will take place in the Boletice military training area, in Bechyně, at the Sedlec 22nd Helicopter Air Base, in Vícenice near Náměšť nad Oslavou, at the Čáslav 21st Tactical Air Base. The soldiers will also use the Pardubice Airport Authority. The first takeoff is scheduled for Monday, September 6.

This year, Hungary, Germany, the Netherlands, the Slovak Republic, the United States, the United Kingdom, Poland and France will take part in the exercise. Approximately 500 soldiers of the Czech Army will take part, and approximately 200 soldiers from the above-mentioned alliance armies will join them.

Picture: Exercise areas within the Ample Strike 2021 event | Ministry of Defense of the Czech Republic

In addition to Czech Mi-35/24 and Mi-171 helicopters, JAS-39 Gripen multi-purpose combat aircraft and L-159 subsonic jets, 2 Hungarian JAS-39 Gripen aircraft will also participate. Furthermore, German Learjet and PC-9M aircraft will be involved in the exercise. The participation was also promised by the American KC-135 aircraft providing refueling in the air, American F-15 twin-engine tactical fighter or MQ-9 Reaper Unmanned Aerial Vehicle.

Picture: JAS-39 Gripen Multipurpose combat aircraft in the service of the Czech Armed Forces | Ministry of Defense of the Czech Republic

The latter MQ-9 Reaper multi-role drone can stay in the air for up to 30 hours. The aircraft is primarily intended for the destruction of mobile ground targets, but thanks to the full range of modern sensors and communication tools, it is also used for reconnaissance. The Americans and the British deployed it, for example, in Afghanistan, Iraq and in the fight against radicals from the so-called Islamic State. The MQ-9 Reaper was used, among other things, in an attack on Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps General Kasem Suleimani, who was killed in an attack by US drones in Baghdad earlier last year.

Representatives of the Army have already informed the mayors of the municipalities in southern Bohemia affected by the exercise.