Exercise ‘Royal Blackhawk 2020’

The 1st Regiment of Artillery of Bourogne organised the ‘Royal Black Hawk 2020’ exercise where more than 400 soldiers and a dozen combat helicopters participated.

This marked its eighth edition and shares a very interesting background. A French Army cadet had met an American cadet at West Point in the USA and while they were together, were looking for some adventure and as a bet, decided to organise an exercise together in the future. This became reality in 2013 when the first Royal Blackhawk exercise was held.

Since 2013, the Royal Blackhawk exercise has been organised annually by the 1st Regiment of Artillery (RA) at Belfort and its surroundings for about two weeks. This edition, put together nationalities of more than 400 French, Belgian and British soldiers, engineers, artillery, infantry and also combat helicopters of the French and United States Army. The helicopters of the 1st Combat Helicopter Regiment operated alongside different helicopters of the 12th Combat Aviation Brigade (US Army).

Like every year the Exercise was realistic and faithful to its objectives, making it particularly possible to train the mortar sections. The teams of observers and the maneuvere troops participated in their specialised roles: Air assault, MEDEVAC, Close Combat Attack, Close Air Support via JTACs (Joint Terminal Attack Controllers), Forward Air Traffic Controllers.

For the French Army, it was also an opportunity to train with their allies according to standard NATO procedures. This exercise is now well established in the area with training carried out in the region between Belfort, Besancon and Valdahon.

The 1st Combat Helicopter Regiment participated with two NH90 Caïman and two EC665 Tiger helicopters. Besides helicopters of the French Army, the French Air Force participated in this exercise with some Dassault Mirage 2000Ds from BA133 Nancy and Dassault Rafales from BA113 Saint-Dizier. The French Navy provided an ATL2 from the 21F Flotille based at BAN Lorient/Lann-Bihoué for the Royal Blackhawk exercise. The US Army in Europe sent 4 AH-64D Apaches, 2 UH-60M Black Hawks and 2 CH-47F Chinooks of the 12th Combat Aviation Brigade. The Apaches and Chinooks are home based at Ansbach Army Airfield, the UH-60M Black Hawks based at Wiesbaden Army Airfield in Germany.

Scenario: On 14 October, the Citadel of Belfort was captured, although this was an exercise in peacetime with ground troops and helicopters. The Franco-American collaboration in this action gave French troops training in realistic conditions.

Still, it was difficult in such short time to integrate the objectives of the French Army (CEMAT) Chief’s strategic vision on high intensity warfare. The capture of a village on 21 October was, moreover, carried out with a favorable ratio of 3 to 1 in terms of manpower, but it is the objective that counts: realism increases edition after edition, which is the interest of 1st RA, whose major equipment, the rocket launcher unit (LRU), is capable of striking regardless of weather conditions over a distance of 80 km and is one of the key elements for excellence in high intensity operations. US Army’s helicopters are also more self-protected than their French equivalents, with a much better passenger carrying capacity of the Chinook than the NH90 Caïman.

During the exercise, one CH-47 also demonstrated its capability of a 120 mm mortar to be carried in its hold, with about fifteen soldiers and protective elements. The Caiman cannot do this as its floor is too weak and there is now a study being carried out for reinforcing that. Artillerymen of the 1st RA know that their LRU will take time, even if, as a remnant of the Cold War, there were few operational situations: in the Sahel, with only some ten rockets fired. Nevertheless, the Regiment maintains the Sahel for protection of Forward Operating Bases and in Lebanon, deployed the counter-battery radar Cobra: this equipment remains, more than ever, at the heart of operations.

Major Antonides flies the AH-64D Apache with the 12th CAB, having some 1600 flight hours on type which has been in service with the US Army since 2008. Major Antonides informed that the main task was to support NATO allies and help to facilitate their training. As he stated, “We did that through interoperability training, speaking with the JTACs from the UK, Belgium and France. Its really great for us to talk to someone on the ground and just work on those skills especially with our NATO allies”.

For Apache pilots, it was great to have brought the third dimension to this exercise. As an Artillery Regiment, they normally work on the ground and know that they are good at working together with the other ground forces but they now had a third element, that of the air. Major Antonides stated, “Of course, they fire their artillery guns but with the Apaches we can add extra firepower in the event and can also add complexity in their training – they have to think about another asset out there”!

Capt. Guillaume of the 1st RA talked about future plans for the exercise. “Next year, I would like to improve a little bit. For me that would mean participation of the French Reaper UAV drone. They were unavailable this time, but I really hope that they will be available in 2021.”

I would like to thank Press Officer Gabriel, Major Antonides, Capt. Guillaume and the crews of the 12th Combat Aviation Brigade and the 1er RHC for their hospitality and help during my visit.

Photos & Article by Roelof-Jan Gort