Exercise Hot Blade 2013 (HB13) is a multinational helicopter exercise and part of EDA's Helicopter Training Programme. Hosted by Portugal, HB13 will take place in the area of Ovar from 17 to 31 July. Five nations (Austria, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and Portugal) will participate in the exercise with 26 helicopters, 4 fixed wing aircraft and 700+ military personnel.
HB13 is designed to allow European helicopter crews to practice operations in a hot, high and dusty environment, simulating the challenge and the dynamic conditions that participating forces will encounter when they deploy to a current Theatre of Operation (TO).
Besides the focus on flying in challenging environmental conditions, the exercise is developed to implement "Joint Interoperability Training" based on joint interoperability tasks including Air Assault (AA), Special Operations Aviation (SOA), Combat Service Support (CSS), Close Air Support (CAS) including Urban CAS and Emergency CAS, Convoy/helicopter escorts, Reconnaissance and Security (R&S) operations, Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR), Personnel Recovery (PR), Military/Non Military extractions (NEO Ops), Medical Evacuation (MEDEVAC) and Casualty Evacuation (CASEVAC).
All missions are executed from OVAR air base, functioning as Deployable Operating Base (DOB), towards working areas and return to the DOB each day. This model maximises coordination inherent to all missions, as well as ensures a joint briefing and debriefing, where emphasis will be given to flight safety and lessons learned. As air operations are developed largely in a TRA (Temporarily Restricted Airspace), a Helicopter Forward Operating Base (FOB) is implemented in the civilian aerodrome of Seia. This option increases operations flexibility and ensures the dynamics and realism of the scenario.
This page provides you with up-to-date information on HB13 throughout its duration.