Can anyone please give me any information about the NATO operation ‘Open Gate’ which took place in the Med in the Cold War. Apparently it was designed to simulate air and sea power tactics required to keep the Straits of Gibraltar open during a crisis. It took place in the area of Gibraltar, the Moroccan and Spanish Coasts and the Spanish island of Alboran.
I can’t find any info relating to the frequency of the exercise and what missions took place.
Thanks.
By: lindoug - 5th January 2017 at 17:15
Thank you very much for your input. I’ve been doing some work on the EF-111 of the 42 ECS out of Upper Heyford. They were involved but not as early as 1983.
By: cabbage - 4th January 2017 at 13:38
I believe it involved Nimrods and other ASW aircraft practising against NATO submarines, in and around the Straits of Gibraltar. My first overseas detatchment was from Kinloss to Gib, in 1983, for this annual exercise, plus open water Stingray Torpedo trials.
If my memory serves me right, there were also USN P-3’s , German and Dutch Atlantiques, Buccaneers, and the resident Jaguar detatchment involved. Also FRADU supplied a variety of Hunters, and Canberras, and the Navy used some shore based Lynx helicopters.
I took many photographs, sneakily, as I wasn’t too sure about any security issues, and it was my first go at using a 35mm SLR camera.
Regards, Cabbage
By: Thunderbird167 - 3rd January 2017 at 15:47
Doug
A google search on Exercise Open Gate Gibraltar brings up dates from 1978 to 1990 with film of Buccaneers in 1978
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January 3, 2017 at 12:29 pm