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Home to six Hellenic Air Force units, Elefsis hosts no fewer than nine aircraft types with roles encompassing cargo transport, VIP transport, airborne early warning, combat search and rescue and firefighting, as Mark Rourke reports.
EVERYTHING IS achieved through diligence”, is the proud wording on the emblem of the Hellenic Air Force’s (HAF) 112 Pteriga Makhis (PM, 112th Combat Wing).
Greek dramatist Menander’s (342- 292 BC) quotation befits the mission statement of the unit under the Diikissi Aeroporikion Mataforn (Air Transport Command), located at Elefsis air base.
The air base, 15km (9.3 miles) west of Athens, has the largest number of personnel in the HAF and contains its most diverse fleet.
Commander of 112 PM, Brigadier General Tzallas, explains the mission statement of the wing as sustaining “a high level of effectiveness and readiness – through the appropriate structures, personnel training, maintenance of the available assets and available equipment – to assume and conduct all assigned tasks successfully, including execution of all air operations and handling of emergency situations”.
Training is, of course, a priority when it comes to undertaking its diverse roles, as the wing’s Force Protection Director, Colonel Peros explains: “Training of personnel takes place at Elefsis. Our wing has a high degree of autonomy regarding the training of the flight crews, engineers, ground personnel and almost everyone that serves in the base, with initial and follow-up programmes.
“The initial training for flight crew members – once they’ve left Kalamáta [the HAF’s primary aircrew training station] and arrived here and been assigned an aircraft type – is conducted at the Operational Conversion Unit [OCU] on the squadron that operates that type of aircraft and speciality.”
The OCUs use aircraft specific to squadrons, and pilots or crew usually become qualified within four to six years.
VIP specialists
For the local population, perhaps the most familiar aircraft types at Elefsis are those operated by Mira Metaforas Ypsilon Prospon 352 (MMYP, VIP Transport Squadron) ‘Cosmos’, which transports Greek Government officials and heads of state. Its aircraft are also used for repatriation missions involving Greek citizens overseas as well as medical emergencies.
Deputy commander of 352 Mira, Lt Col Ioannis Giannakakis, has enjoyed an impressive career in the HAF. After flying more than 2,000 hours on the F-4E Phantom II with 337 Mira, he had tours with NATO’s Allied Joint Force Command Naples and the Combined Operations Centre at Larissa in northern Greece.
His role in Naples was particularly rewarding, as he was Air Officer Commanding (AOC) for Operation Unified Protector, responsible for controlling aviation elements over Libya.
He then became an aide de campe to the Greek President, providing advice on military matters involving the HAF.
Three aircraft of two types are operated by 352 Mira – a Gulfstream V delivered in March 2003 supported by two Embraer 135s – one of which is an ERJ-135LR for long-range missions. The ERJs first arrived from Brazil in January 2000.
The colonel told AFM what it’s like to fly the Embraer after a career in fighter jets: “I think it’s right on time for me. When I was young, with my blood running faster in my veins, the F-4 was the best choice… Fully manual, difficult to handle, dangerous. A real fighter! Now, getting closer to my 50s, safety and comfort is my aim. Fully automatic, safe and reliable, the ERJ is the choice. Travelling all over the world is an additional benefit!”
Spartans and firefighters
Also based at Elefsis is 354 Mira Taktikon Metaforon (MTM, Tactical Transport Squadron) ‘Pegasus’ which has eight C-27J Spartans on strength. Twelve of the turboprop transports were originally ordered in January 2003 but four were cancelled and delivered to Mexico.
Delivered from August 2005, the C-27Js are among the HAF aircraft most commonly seen outside Greece, by virtue of their tactical airlift role.
The C-27J is heavily utilised not only for local missions but also within the wider framework of NATO, the European Union and the United Nations. But the Spartan’s secondary missions – medical evacuation and maritime patrol – have recently assumed greater importance, especially with the influx of refugees from the Syrian conflict arriving in Greek-controlled coastal areas.
Another resident squadron at Elefsis, 355 MTM ‘Ifestos’ (Hephaestus – the Greek god of fire), is equipped with the survivors of 20 Canadair CL-215s to have served with the HAF. The firefighting amphibian has been in use for 40 years, the first of four arriving in December 1975.
Two more arrived in 1977, and by 1990 the inventory comprised 16 examples. Four more were added in 1997 when Greece purchased secondhand CL-215s that previously served with the Yugoslavian Air Force. During the firefighting season, typically spring and summer, the unit’s aircraft are deployed to strategic locations, with detachments based at Andravida (three aircraft), Nea Anchialos (two) and Samos (two) while the rest of the fleet is at readiness or in maintenance at Elefsis.
Highlighting the dangerous work involved, at 1109hrs on June 26 last year, CL-215 serial 1111 was damaged beyond repair when its number one engine caught fire during a mission near Dervenochoria in the northwest Attica region. After making an emergency landing the crew escaped before fire consumed the aircraft.
Co-pilot Lieutenant George Badikos explains the attraction of flying the CL-215 on such missions: “After 350 hours of flight training at Tatoi [Cessna T-41D] and Kalamáta [T-6A Texan II and T-2 Buckeye] I chose to begin a career in firefighting at Elefsis with the old but trusted CL-215s.
“I knew and understood the age of the aircraft may be a drawback but its role and contribution in the HAF and the Greek state is enormous.
“Greece’s position in the southeast of Europe means high temperatures for more than half the year, so fires are very common – and costly in money and human lives. That gives us the push we need to keep on going to complete the difficult and dangerous task of firefighting.”
With no big lakes available in Greece for water pick-ups, the CL-215 pilots have to take the aircraft to the open sea. “We then arrive at the fire, which more often than not is in uneven terrain, and we drop to below 100ft to save anything from forests to trees and houses, as well as the firefighters on the ground that are in lethal danger.
“After almost seven years and 800 hours, I’ve flown over the entire Greek terrain, picked up water from the sea and operated on almost 300 firefighting missions – and I’m a year away from becoming a first pilot. Even though I’ve not flown a jet fighter, our last piston-engine firefighter fills me with confidence and I’m proud of doing this ‘extreme sport’!
“The experience of these extreme flights, the very low water drops and the feeling of picking up water from the Aegean can’t be compared to a thousand hours on fighter jets. So we keep on hoping for safe water landings and fewer fires!”
Greece has also deployed the CL-215 – as well as the more modern CL-415s that equip 383 Mira at Thessalonki-Makedonia – to other countries for fire suppression duties, including France, Turkey and Israel.
In Greece itself, August 2007 saw the worst forest fires in recent history, with 355 MTM in the thick of the action in the Peloponnese. Crews with experience from that period provide valuable input to the training of new aircrew recruits, two to four of which join the squadron each year.
Transport workhorse
The backbone of the HAF transport fleet comprises a mix of C-130B and C-130H Hercules belonging to 356 MTM ‘Iraklis’ (Hercules).
Officially at least, 15 Hercules remain in service. The ten survivors of the C-130H fleet (two were written off in February 1991 and December 1997) began an Avionics Upgrade Program (AUP) in conjunction with L-3 Communications’ SPAR Aerospace subsidiary and Hellenic Aerospace Industry (HAI) in 2005.
The upgrade also covered the C-130B fleet, five of which were recovered from US Air Force stocks in 1992. Of the B-models, serial 296 has been withdrawn from service and now serves as an instructional airframe.
Completed in 2010, the upgrade included modifications to the GPS/inertial navigation system, autopilot, weather radar and digital engine control system. Meanwhile the electronic warfare system was improved, incorporating a new missile proximity warning system and selfprotection suite; the electronics upgraded; and a partial glass cockpit added.
A Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) completed the AUP along with an Electronic Flight Information System (EFIS) and a Flight Management System (FMS). Of the 15 C-130s to undergo the AUP, all but three were completed by HAI at Tanagra, north of Athens.
As with most countries committed to UN and NATO operations, the HAF transport fleet, and the C-130s in particular, sees much use for humanitarian operations. Recent deployments include flood relief in Pakistan in 2010 and support missions after the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, the school siege in Beslan in 2004 and the Turkish earthquake in 1999.
Greek obligations to NATO require three aircraft to be ready for missions involving the nation’s rapid-reaction forces (Force Delta) while another is available to respond to the NATO Response Force (NRF) within five days’ notice. Two of the 356 MTM’s C-130H Hercules (serials 741 and 747) are meanwhile configured as electronic warfare aircraft.
Search and rescue
Responsible primarily for SAR missions, 358 Mira Erevnas Diasosis (MED, Search and Rescue [SAR] Squadron) ‘Faethon’ (Phaethon) includes a VIP flight equipped with Bell 212s. These three smart-looking blue and white helicopters undertake local flights in support of 352 Mira.
Though headquartered at Elefsis, the squadron is deployed to six other bases: Larissa, Limnos, Tanagra, Souda, Araxos and Nea Anchialos. Its principal equipment is the AB205A-1, although three A109Es are also available for the medical evacuation (medevac) role. Using the AB205, most SAR work involves daylight operations, leaving the AS332C-1 Super Pumas of 384 MED ‘Puma’ for more demanding night and bad weather roles.
Delivered from 1970, at least 13 AB205s remain in use, including two transferred from the Hellenic Army. One of them made the news on November 10 last year when the HAF transported a 33-year-old patient of Chinese descent from the freighter Hoegh Shanghai 45nm (83km) off Kalamáta.
The Super Pumas of 384 MED are used for more difficult SAR tasks such as combat search and rescue (CSAR), special operations and medevac flights day and night and in all weather conditions.
The unit has 12 AS332C-1s on strength, four of which are assigned to Hellenic Coastguard duties. The helicopters are routinely detached to operational areas and are normally only at Elefsis for maintenance or training.
All 112 PM SAR missions are carried out in co-operation with the SAR Joint Co-ordination Centre, which has responsibility for search and rescue operations within the Athinai (Athens) Flight Information Region (FIR).
Eyes in Aegean skies
The other flying squadron at Elefsis is not actually part of 112 PM but is hosted by the wing. The unit, 380 Mira Aeroporiko Systema Enaeriou Elenchou & Epitiris (MASEPE, Airborne Early Warning and Control Squadron) ‘Uranos’ (sky), it operates the EMB-145H equipped with the Erieye radar system.
Purchased in 1999 from an Embraer, Ericsson and Thales joint venture, the jets arrived in 2004 but were not accepted until February 2009. To prepare the HAF for this new role two Saab S 100B Argus, employing a similar radar system, were leased from the Swedish Air Force between mid-2001 and December 2003.
Captain Ilias Tsitsios of 380 MASEPE says the Embraer twin-jet has improved interoperability with the various Hellenic combat units: “The EMB-145H AEW&C is a platform capable of connecting via voice (UHF, VHF, and HF) and data link (Link 11 and Link 16) with naval, ground-based and airborne assets.
“So it provides a common ‘reference datum’ via which assets with different operational capabilities can be connected to exchange real-time vital information in secured/redundant networks.
“As a result, the [aircraft] has improved interoperability with regard to volume of data exchanged, time, range and number of participants.”
As for the wing’s challenges, Col Peros, as Force Protection Director, points to “the specificity, the diversity, the wide range and the polymorphic nature of our missions”. Statistics provided by the wing indicate that between 2011 and 2015, the assigned squadrons flew a total of 28,144 missions, involving 47,794 sorties.
In all, these amounted to an impressive 64,370 flight hours.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Brig Gen Tzallas, Col Peros, Caroline Makropoulos, Sgt Strantzas, Lt Col Ioannis Giannakakis and Lt George Badikos for their assistance in producing this article.