On Friday, September 8, 2017, the main training part of Ample Strike was finished.
The exercise focused on advanced training of JTACs, air crews and commanders of ground units, was held in the Czech Republic from August 23 to September 10, 2017.
This year there were more than 1200 participants from 18 countries (the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Croatia, Italy, Canada, Lithuania, Latvia, Hungary, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, the United States, Great Britain).
Over 900 Czech soldiers and nearly 300 foreign military personnel took part in Ample Strike. There were 200 members of the Czech Active Reserves who took care of the base security and were also part of the scenarios. The training was held in the Military Training Areas (Boletice and Libavá), at the 22AFB Namest, 21AFB Časlav, Pardubice and Bechyně Airport.
"Ample Strike focuses on advanced training. This also corresponds to the prepared scenarios. These were more complex than previous years, as we were based on both the experience and the skills of the trainers. JTACs had to deal with multiple situations at one point often under time pressure," explains exercise director Colonel Zdeněk Bauer.
During the exercise 20 JTAC teams conducted about thousands controls. Pilots made more than 600 flying hours with 39 aircraft and helicopters. They trained Close Air Support and air refueling.
Point of Contact: MAJ Denisa Vernerová, Chief of Press and Information Center Ample Strike 2017, phone: 724 961 458, e-mail: amse.jmic@army.cz
