Exercise Agile Owl: RAF personnel train to continue operations in disrupted periods

Royal Air Force personnel have completed Exercise Agile Owl, a week-long exercise designed to test resilience, operational effectiveness and the ability to generate combat air power from multiple locations. 

Ex Agile Owl involved both RAF Coningsby and RAF Lossiemouth putting themselves through several realistic operational scenarios, examining the continuity of operations during periods of disruption. 

The Typhoon Air Wing also exercised its ability to deploy aircraft and personnel away from their main operating bases, including Kinloss Barracks, which is no longer an active airfield. 

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The ability to disperse aircraft and personnel to defend operational capability is pivotal to maintaining national security. 

"The current operational climate requires us to react and deploy at short notice, and it is essential that we demonstrate our ability to support both our aircraft and, more importantly, our people," Group Captain Paul Hanson, Typhoon Air Wing Commander, said. 

Recent conflicts have shown the importance of maintaining the ability to operate in difficult and unfamiliar environments. The more than four-year-long Ukraine war and the recent tensions in the Middle East have reinforced the need for the Armed Forces to remain agile, flexible and ready to respond in rapidly changing circumstances. 

Dispersed operations also complicate an adversary's ability to identify, target and disrupt critical military capabilities, helping to ensure that combat air power can continue to be generated when and where it is needed to maintain national security. 

"I am immensely proud of the way our personnel embraced the challenge. Their ability to respond to complex and evolving scenarios reinforced my confidence that RAF Coningsby is ready to meet whatever challenges lie ahead," Group Captain Andy Hampshire, Station Commander RAF Coningsby, said. 

"The insights gained will help us further strengthen our capabilities and enhance our contribution to UK and Nato defence."