F-35 jets launched from HMS Queen Elizabeth took part an exercise alongside Israeli and Italian jets.
According to the U.S. Air Force, F-35s from four nations came together in a large-scale exercise in Italy, during which the fifth-generation fighters will fly alongside several fourth-generation jets.
“Falcon Strike 21 is a joint multinational exercise with participants from the United States, Israel, Italy, and the United Kingdom. The exercise optimizes the integration between fourth-generation and fifth-generation aircraft, increases the level of cooperation in the F-35 logistics and expeditionary fields, and strengthens interoperability of allied and partner air forces during joint operations.
This year’s exercise is hosted by Italy and will provide multinational forces the opportunity to test and improve shared technical and tactical knowledge, while conducting complex air operations in a multinational, joint force environment. Amendola Air Base is the main operating base for Falcon Strike 21 and all training scenarios will take place in Italian air space.”
U.S. Air Force F-35s from Hill Air Force Base, Utah, and F-16s from Aviano Air Base, Italy, are flying in exercise Falcon Strike 21 at Amendola Air Base, Italy, June 7-15. They will join U.S. Marine Corps F-35Bs, along with F-35As and F-35Bs from the Italian Air Force, F-35Bs from the United Kingdom Royal Air Force, and F-35Is from the Israeli Air Force.
Additional participating aircraft include the Italian Gulfstream G550, F-2000 Eurofighter Typhoon, Panavia Tornado, AMX International aircraft, Alenia Aermacchi T-346, and MQ-1s.
The Italian-hosted exercise “will provide multinational forces the opportunity to test and improve shared technical and tactical knowledge, while conducting complex air operations in a multinational, joint force environment,” U.S. Air Forces in Europe said in a release.
We should not be conducting training exercise with an Apartheid state that it’s jets slaughtered children and civilians in Gaza! I can’t imagine the awkward unease our forces are put at by this reckless government.
Hardly an apartheid state! Israeli Arab citizens have the same rights as Jewish Citizens. Hamas however have no democratic credentials in the areas controlled by them since Israel unilaterally left Gaza back in 2005, they don’t have elections and tend to murder opponents and drag their bodies through the the streets tied to the back of motorbikes. Imagine a world where the Palestinians unilaterally laid down their arms. Peace in the Middle East. Imagine a world where the Israelis unilaterally laid down their arms. The Arabs would storm the country and purge them from the Middle East in a brutal… Read more »
Amen to that!
There are no Jews in Palestinian controlled lands but there are Arabs in Israel. That shows who oppresses whom.
Well the several hundred rockets Hamas launched in the first place was hardly a peacefully intended was it?
4000 – launched indiscriminately, largely against civilian targets.
Every Israeli counter-attack was aimed squarely at Hamas. Moreover, Israel calls the target beforehand to warn of an incoming attack. If you live in that block you get a phone call. If you don’t move-out they drop bangers on top. Then, if you still remain they bomb the target.
No other nation on Earth goes to such extremes to avoid hitting civilian targets. The problem is Hamas doesn’t care about civilians and happily uses them, knowing it is useful propaganda if a child is killed.
Here we go. Ugh
We already help build the F35 for Israel … so suck it up and see.
James have the tactics of a Marxist,protecting the Nazi regime of Hamas. In fact all evidence points he hates Israelis and uses Palestinians as tools.. Like Communists unions sabotaged British defence industry until 22 June 1941 as Sir Charles Goodeve of “Hedghog” fame says in his memories, and remembering Soviet Union offered Basis Nord for Nazi submarines to operate and strangle England… Maybe James can explain how Hamas have more rockets than British Army when he said they are unarmed… Of those fired against Israel 10-15% fall in Gaza before reaching the border. So James obviously does not care one… Read more »
James, From a military point of view, Hamas kick started the latest conflict by launching 150 missiles into Israel on the evening of the 10th May. over the next 15 days they launched over 4600 missiles including 10 Iranian supplied Badr 3 missiles which has a 250kg HE warhead. In return the IDF carried out 1500 strikes inside Gaza resulting in 256 death. Now we are often regaled to the fact that Gaza is one of the most heavily populated areas in the world , and yet a death toll of 256 after 1500 airstrikes is relatively light. I mean… Read more »
It’s all kicking off now, Spanish jets have attacked HMS Albion and Turkey shot down one of our Wildcats and blamed it on Russia and no one is listening
Very boring now, try a different tac.
OK Dude, as you wish.
What’s your favourite Bird ? Is it the Chuff per chance 😂
Is that a bird, a chuffin? But like a puffin but cheaper……😝
Israel is an illegal occupying power per numerous UN resolutions since 1967 annexation of the West Bank, Gaza, the Golan Heights, and part of Southern Lebanon. By its illegal settlement activities, per again UN resolutions supported by most of the nations of the world that includes EU, UK, USA etc., Israel has effectively created an Apartheid state in the said occupied territories in the West Bank, and by isolating Gaza and depopulating the Golan heights of their Arab populations. The results on the ground are no different than pre 1992 Apartheid South Africa with its then “Bantustans” policies. Like those… Read more »
Israel is an important military ally. That is not going to change any time soon. So exercises will continue.
That is only going to stop when all of Israels neighbours + Iran stop wanted to destroy the country.
Again why do they want to destroy the country of Israel. Ask yourself this in a dispassionate manner and I think you have your answer. I help you bit with the process. Say if all the Arabs suddenly disappeared then off course the desire to see Israel’s destruction disappears. However, since that scenario is unlikely, the question is, what is it about Israel that makes its destruction in its current form so pressing for the “Arab street”? Note that prior to 1947 the various Muslim communities (Arab, Turks, Persians etc.) In North Africa and the Levant (Middle East, Turkey, and… Read more »
You’re reading too much revisionist history. You’re talking nonsense from a secular perspective and failing, like all liberals, to respect the cultural, religious and ideological difference different people group truly have. You talk inclusively but you superimpose your interpretive framework on them. You apply your value set to them and build arguments from your opinions to justify why someone else should behave like you want them to. This is Western cultural imperialism at its heart and this is why all Western peace initiatives have failed. Frankly, and please excuse me but I find this kind of talk deeply offensive. Differences… Read more »
Branaboy wrote: “”I submit to you and others in this forum that the dislike of Israel by its neighbors in the Middle East is less to do about religious differences and more to do with the ‘”colonial ” approach to Statehood that underpins the Zionist state that is Israel. “” When Jordan was formed in 1921, it banned Jews from living there. At a stroke all the Jews were expelled from the country. This was repeated in the West bank in 1949 after Jordan captured and annexed the West Bank and East Jerusalem, In fact the so called ethnic cleaning of… Read more »
1967… when Nasser attacked Israel.
As did Jordan and Syria. It will be a cold day in hell before Israel give back the Golan Heights.
I beg to differ, yours is a false narrative. Israel in 1967 carried out what Moshe Ryan the then defence Minister of Israel called a “preemptive strike”, which means Israel attacked first to prevent what Israel claimed was a pending attack from the Arab States. Off course it is imposed to prove this Israeli assertion.
More chuff, please refer to my first reply.
Moshe Dayan..
Unfortunately the UN peacekeepers were ordered to withdraw by Nasser from between the waring factions. I read that Soviet intelligence gave duff info about Israel massing on the Syria border to Nasser who removed the peacekeepers and he started a blockade of the Straights of Tiran. The next day Iraqi troops and Eqyptian troops came into Jordan. Both sides mobilised. Given how Israel were surrounded this was tantamount to declaring war. So you go figure what you would do if you were Israel. (In fact Egypt were planning to attack Israel a few days prior, but Nasser was encouraged by… Read more »
I see you miss the chance of bombing Galileia from Golans, That really shows your type and what about you care. In a typical Marxist setup you hate that Jews – now conflated with Western Civilisation – have a country of their own. But strangely you do not have any problem with “Arab” countries. Corollary Jews are not permitted auto-determination. I am sure if they would be extolling the great Socialist ideas that would not happen and the narrative would have changed… Let’s compare: The Balkans changed borders and territories ownership by violence and we are talking about 1990’s not… Read more »
I don’t know what you see in my narrative that makes me a Marxist. Your little narrative about the Balkans actually proves my case. A hegemonic Serbian regime in Yugoslavia was overthrown and is now confined to a small portion of what was once the greater Southern Slav nation that was Yugoslavia. On the various ethnic groups striving for homelands in the Middle East that you list, you again make my point for me that ethnic hegemony in the current National states are unsustainable and thus the solution is either a true non ethnic based democracy or fragmentation and destruction… Read more »
Even more chuff, once again I refer you to my first reply.
Wow, all that effort could be replaced by a single word, chuff! Lots of effort, good paragraph size, punctuation ok, but content lacking. Please research subject then you may get a C minus if you work harder.
In all your responses to my earlier postings you keep saying “Chuff”, not sure what you mean by that but so far you have not refuted anything I have said. If you believe my historical narrative on the start of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian and other Arab territories is inaccurate then I will simply ask you to do a google search on the 1967 June War and you will find that all accounts state that Israel initiated the war with a “Preemptive” attack on Eqypt and and the other Arab state because, as I said earlier above, the… Read more »
“Twitcher” 🤔
Brababoy, I noticed your post about Israel. Now I am not going to talk about politics simply your point about Israel carrying out a preemptive strike based purely on claims that the Israelis feared an attack. Actually the Egyptians under Nasser had plans to do just that which is why countries which counted Egypt as a mortal enemy (Morocco/Libya/Saudi Arabia/Tunisia) had sent forces to Egypt Even Syria sent forces to back up the Iraqi tank brigade that just happened to based inside the West Bank when hostilities started) Combined they numbered 900 combat aircraft ,5000 tanks and 500k men On… Read more »
Thank you Mr. Farouk for your thoughtful input. Yes there was a lot of sabre rattling from Nassar in the months leading up to the June1967 war, and yes there had been a number of border skirmishes with Syria in the North. However the historical records do not shpw any intensions on the part of Nassar or the Russians to attack Israel. I will provide with with just 2 links to 2 well researched authors on the matter that. In fact a Google search on the matter of the “preemptive” strike in June 1967 come to the same conclusion that… Read more »
Branaboy, Many thanks for your reply and the 2 links, On reading them I find the latter simply states that Russia wasn’t keen on war and shocked the Egyptians by stating that they weren’t a match for the US. Nowhere does it state that Egypt wasn’t for war, if anything the reverse is true. The first link cites the Book Six day war by Michael Oren as the definitive reference point on the six day war and the author of the article states: “”The current Israeli Ambassador to the U.S., Michael B. Oren, acknowledged in his book “Six days of… Read more »
Damn my photos didn’t come through last time:
next page
last page:
The book:
Please review this old article in the Foreign Policy Journal that I had linked in my earlier post. This an other historical analysis agree that Egypt was not in a position to attack Israel in June 1967. Even Yitzhak Rabin the Israeli Sinai commander of the time conceded that in his memoirs which is quote in the link. Mr. Oren has his viewpoint which is at variance of Rabin and other Israeli Generals from the era. In 1973 Egypt was clearly the aggressor but most dispassionate historical analysis of the June 1967 war generally accept that Bazaar was sabre rattling… Read more »
This debate is entirely off topic but with regard to the demographic dynamics, the countries with the highest standards in just about everything, all have low birthrates whereas those at the bottom of the heap have runaway population explosions as do many of their descendents that have migrated elsewhere. So if mere numbers are to dictate our future then…
Make of that what you will.
You are right that it really is off topic with regards to the subject of joint military exercises in Italy. I only wrote what I did when MR. Newell and others went after the first poster Mr. James with what I considered to be inaccurate remarks. For me Israel’s participation in the joint exercises is very welcome. That however does not mean we must accept incorrect statements. Maybe Mr. James should not have used the word Aparthedi in discribing Israel, but he is not wrong in discribing what pertains on the ground in the occupied Arab territories. Sorry if I… Read more »
Hi Branaboy. Thank you for your gracious post and absolutely no apology needed. I am one of the worst offenders when it comes to straying off subject, although I am trying to reform 😀. I am very much on the same page as you all round regarding Israel
Kind Regards from Durban
The UN is about as much use as a chocolate fireguard. I “served” under UN control, as did many American friends of mine. We all share the same opinion. Your antisemitism is noted.
Standard charge made by all those who are unable to legally justify Israeli behavior. We either accept the international rule of law architecture instituted by the USA and at its victorious allies in the post WW2 era or we have anarchy. All nations must play by the rules as generally formulated under UN auspices (with the USA and Europe having general formulate and pushing for global acceptance of these rules).
Israel was attacked and nearly obliterated from those territories. Which ever nation, having defeated the belligerents then returns the very strategic lands from which those attacks were launched? It would be suicide. But that’s exactly what people want. And let us remember, the West Bank was well known as Judea and Samaria for thousands of years beforehand and is the home of famous Israeli places like Bethlehem and Jacob’s Well. The name “the West Bank” was only adopted in 1967. Rather like the term “Palestine” it is used to de-legitimise Israel. The term Palestine was created by the Romans after… Read more »
Your first sentence was wrong. Israel has never annexed the West Bank or Gaza and is still officially hoping for a two state solution. In 1967 Israel offered to give back the Golan to Syria for peace. The offer was rejected by the Arab League summit in Sudan, when it declared the “three Nos”. No peace with Israel, No recognition of Israel, No negotiations with Israel. That doesn’t amount to an annexation. Syria’s attack on Israel through the Golan in ’73 (Yom Kippur War) was too devastating to be allowed to be repeated. The effective annexation of the Golan (in… Read more »
Daft question but where are these spare f35b’s coming from, I thought they were on QE or training in the UK.
I suspect the Uk and USMC f35b are indeed from QE given that the carrier is offshore the big boot at the moment…just a wild guess..