On October 28, the multinational air force exercise "blue flag 21" held in Israel ended. The exercise has been held every two years since 2013. The scale of this year's exercise is the largest since the founding of Israel. Israeli F-35 fighter squadron simulates coordinated operation of opponents The drill is highly targeted More than 1500 participants from Israel, the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Greece and India participated in the exercise, with about 70 fighters, including F-35, F-16, "gust", "typhoon" and "phantom". Israeli air force operations Minister Amir razar said: "the exercise aims to improve the level of cooperation between Israel and multinational air forces, and is not aimed at Iran or any other country." however, from the content of the exercise, the exercise is mainly aimed at Russian air defense weapons and simulates the air force attacking important targets outside the territory. Its pertinence is self-evident. The drill content setting is highly directional. The exercise is divided into three stages: Fighter air combat, avoiding ground to Air Radar and ground to air missiles, and destroying ground targets in enemy territory. Finally, it simulates the destruction of high-value ground targets in a third country. Israeli media said that the content of the last "blue flag" military exercise was similar to this one, but it clearly simulated attacking targets in Syria. During this year's exercise, the Israeli air force blurred the strike targets. Simulate a large number of Russian air defense weapons as imaginary enemies. According to Jane's Defense Weekly, the Israeli air force uses new equipment to simulate a large number of Russian air defense weapons as imaginary enemies. The Israeli "Scorpio" training system simulates a variety of surface to air missile systems through beam transmitters and receiving units, such as Russian sam-2, sam-3, sam-6, sam-8 and "armor" missile systems. In addition, the Israeli Patriot missile company plays the role of S-300 and S-400 air defense systems through system simulation. Simulate the special situation of opponent stealth fighter support. It is worth noting that the 115 "red dragon" squadron of the Israeli air force, which used to play the imaginary enemy, is mainly equipped with F-16 fighters. This year, it is envisaged to deal with the unexpected situation of the opponent's five generations of fighters participating in the war, and the Israeli army will add an F-35 fighter squadron to simulate the opponent's cooperative operation. Under the condition that neighboring countries are generally not equipped with stealth fighters, Israel has special considerations in this move. Strengthen fighter coordination It is believed that the exercise brings together advanced fighters from many countries. On the one hand, it is an opportunity for countries to seek an opportunity to counter Russian air defense weapons. On the other hand, it is to participate in the collaborative training of fourth and fifth generation fighters. In 2018, Israel claimed that its F-35 fighter successfully raided enemy targets, becoming the first country to use F-35 fighter in actual combat. In recent years, in actual combat, the Israeli army has accumulated the experience of cooperation between this type of fighter and the fourth generation fighter. The air forces of various countries try to take this opportunity to learn and train the team. Among them, the Indian "phantom" Fighter Squadron, the British "typhoon" fighter squadron and the French "gust" fighter squadron all participated in the performance for the first time. During the exercise, under the command of the air force G550 early warning aircraft, F-35 fighters and multinational air forces cooperated to exercise attacks on enemy fighters, UAVs, ground air defense systems and ground moving targets. After the exercise, Israel also held a theme forum on coordinated operation of the next four and five generations of fighters, with representatives of the air forces of Italy, Norway, Belgium and other countries participating in the discussion. With the actual combat experience of the air force and exercises close to the actual combat, it promoted the coordinated operation of the fourth and fifth generation fighters of the multinational air force, which was recognized by the participating countries. Arab countries for the first time In addition to the participation of many countries, the exercise also attracted many countries to observe and study. South Korea, Finland, Romania, the Netherlands, Japan, Australia, Croatia and other countries have sent observation missions. It is worth mentioning that Ibrahim Nasser Allawi, commander of the UAE air force, visited for the first time and became the first air force general in the Arab world to participate in Israeli military exercises. The media speculated that in view of the current tense relations between the UAE and Iran, the UAE air force may participate in the next "blue flag" exercise and will play an important role in combating high-value fixed targets. In this regard, the UAE air force did not respond, but denied that the visit was related to the exercise. In recent years, the scale of "blue flag" military exercises has been increasing. The hypothetical enemy aims at Russian weapons and equipment and tries to strike first, showing Israel's consistent tough attitude and deterrence thought in the Middle East. At the same time, Iran and other countries held a tit for tat "skyguard-1400" large-scale air defense exercise, focusing on the display of new domestic air defense systems. Which is better, the spear in the air or the shield on the ground? I'm afraid it will only be known in the future battlefield. (outlook new era)