TLP 2004-1; A Tornado dominated TLP


The Tactical Leadership Programme was founded in the late 19seventies. Its purpose was to join allied forces and train together in joint operations, but also to generate leaders for challenging multinational air defence and air strike missions. The TLP is a standalone organization based on a Memorandum of Understanding between the air forces of Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. During the years other nations have been invited as guests to participate.
The first TLP ever was held at Fürstenfeldbruck Air Base, Germany, in January 1978, but this first edition was strictly academic. The TLP moved to Jever AB, Germany, in September 1979 and the academic course was extended with a flying phase. When the TLP left Jever in 1988, 71 courses were held there and over 1900 aircrews were trained. Florennes AB in Belgium was appointed as the new homebase for the TLP, and hosted its first TLP in March 1989. The TLP stayed at Florennes until July 2009, when the exercise moved to Albacete, Spain, where weather conditions are far better and the aircrews have a large airspace structure to their usage. 

TLP 2004-1
The first participants arrived on Friday 9 January and the last participants departed on Friday 6 February. This cold and winters TLP was dominated by Tornado’s. The German Air Force participated with 6 Tornado’s, the German Navy with 4, the Italian Air Force with 4 and the Royal Air Force also with 4 Tornado’s.

The participants:
Belgian Air Force with F-16A from 10 Wing
French Air Force with Mirage 2000-5F from EC 02.002 and Mirage 2000C from EC 02.012
German Air Force with Tornado IDS from JBG-38 and AKG-51
German Navy with Tornado IDS from MFG-2
Italian Air Force with AMX from 32 Stormo and Tornado ECR from 50 Stormo
Norwegian Air Force with F-16A from 332 and 334 Skv and Falcon-20 from 717 Skv
Royal Air Force with Tornado GR.4A from 12 and 14 Sqn. and Hawk T.1A from 100 Sqn.
United States Air Force with F-15E from 492nd FS