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The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) will participate in Exercise Serpentex 2013 from Nov. 25 to Dec. 6, 2013, at Solenzara Air Force Base in Corsica, France, to exercise its air expeditionary capability as well as to develop and increase professional bonds with NATO Allies’ Air Forces.
“The RCAF participation in Serpentex demonstrates our commitment to collaborating and cooperating with our international allies,” said Major-General Pierre St.-Amand, the commander of 1 Canadian Air Division. “Serpentex provides the RCAF with a realistic, comprehensive, and multinational training environment that we could not replicate on our own.”
The Royal Canadian Air Force will participate with the following air assets:
- Six CF-18 Hornets from 4 Wing, Cold Lake, Alta.
- One CP-140 Aurora from 14 Wing, Greenwood, N.S., which will be based at Sigonella, Italy
RCAF participation will be supported with the following aircraft:
- CC-130J Hercules from 8 Wing, Trenton, Ont., for transportation support
- CC-150 Polaris from 8 Wing Trenton, Ont., for air-to-air refuelling and transportation support
“The RCAF is honoured to have been invited to participate in Serpentex 2013, a premiere, multinational training event, aimed to foster a spirit of cooperation and understanding between partner nations,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Luc Girouard, the commander of Air Task Force Serpentex. “We are looking forward to exercising our organizational capability overseas, which will test our ability to provide logistical and operational support to a deployed body.”
During Serpentex, the 195-member Royal Canadian Air Force team will have the opportunity to exercise all operational and logistical facets of deploying an air task force overseas to include the following:
- Close air support capability
- Combined air operations training
- Strategic air-to-air refuelling
- Intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance
- Strategic (long-range) airlift
- Planning and execution of deployed operations
- Establish a deployed combat operations centre
Essential communication support will be provided by both 8 Air Communications and Control Squadron from 8 Wing Trenton, Ont., and 2 Air Expeditionary Squadron from 2 Wing Bagotville, Que.
While aircraft will come from across the country, the leadership cadre and the logistical support will be provided by 2 Wing. Formed in June 2012, 2 Wing, based at Canadian Forces Base Bagotville, Que., is a deliberate, high-readiness capability comprised of an operational, command and control, logistical, and support structure, making the Royal Canadian Air Force self-sustainable and able to deploy anywhere in the world.
