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 2004-4
The first participants arrived on Friday 27 August and the last participants departed on Friday 24 September. The Spanish Air Force sent no less than 10 different F-18’s to the TLP. With 2 additional Spanish Mirage F.1’s we could easily say that this was an TLP with a Spanish flavour.

The participants:
Belgian Air Force with F-16A from 10 Wing
French Air Force with Mirage 2000N from EC 03.004 and Mirage 2000C from EC 01.012
Greece Air Force with F-16C from 346 Mira
Italian Air Force with Tornado IDS from 36 Stormo
Royal Air Force with Tornado GR.4A from 2 Sqn. and Tornado F.3 from 43 Sqn.
Spanish Air Force with EF-18A from Ala 12 and Ala 15, F/A-18 from Ala 46 and Mirage F.1M from Ala 14