Electronic warfare course held at new European training centre in Portugal.

European Defense Agency’s 4th Electronic Warfare course (5-16 October) involving more than a dozen participants from Belgium, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Sweden and Ukraine has been completed at Sintra Air Base, Portugal. It was the first helicopter course held in the Agency’s new training facility set up over the past four months at Sintra Air Base which will also host the future Multinational Helicopter Training Centre (MHTC) by mid-2023.

Follow Air Recognition on Google News at this link

NH90 TTH Caiman of the Belgian army (Picture source: Army Recognition)

The Electronic Warfare course, which is part of EDA’s wide-ranging helicopter training activities, allowed participants to deepen their knowledge and expertise about Electronic Warfare and its application in the current operational theatres. From threat briefings to mathematics classes, an array of topics was touched upon with the goal to increase the know-how of the students who also had the opportunity to share experiences among them despite the strict precautionary Covid-19 measures put in place by the Portuguese Air Force and the country’s health authorities.

Sintra ready for high-quality training

After months of intense preparations, the Sintra training centre meets all necessary conditions for delivering high-quality training for the EDA Helicopter Exercise Programme (HEP), the Helicopter Tactics Course (HTC) and the Helicopter Tactics Instructors Course (HTIC) programmes. The centre includes a large office and classroom building and a hangar built to accommodate an advanced helicopter mission simulator. The state-of-the-art simulator is composed of two full cockpits and rear cabins allowing to provide training to all the crewmembers, both pilots and rear crews. Based on the very latest simulation technology, the training device has VBS4 software integrated in a world data base, a very realistic flight model and a complete EW Defence Suite, all of which will allow crews to improve and extend their tactical skills and knowledge in any type of physical or tactical environment.

The new training facilities will ensure the continuity of the current EDA programmes until mid-2023 when they will be fully handed over to the Multinational Helicopter Training Centre (MHTC), also to be based at Sintra Air Base, which will take over the management of the three EDA helicopter programmes.

EDA's 4th Electonic Warfare Course participants (Picture source: EDA)