TLP 2004-2; March Mirage Month


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 2004-2
The first participants arrived on Friday 27 February and the last participants departed on Friday 26 March. This episode was dominated by French Mirage 2000’s. Eleven different Mirages 2000, from 5 different units participated.

The participants:
French Air Force with Mirage 2000-5F from EC 01.002 and EC 02.002,
Mirage 2000D from EC 03.003, Mirage 2000N from EC 01.004,
Mirage 2000C from EC 01.005,
Mirage F.1CR from EC 01.033 and EC 02.033
German Air Force with Tornado IDS from JBG-33
Greece Air Force with F-16C from 341 Mira
Italian Air Force with AMX from 32 Stormo and Tornado IDS from 6 Stormo
Turkish Air Force with F-16C from 4 AJU
USAF with F-15C from 493rd FS and
F-15E from 494th FS