April, specifically from Tuesday 13 to Wednesday 21, saw Air Force carrying out Argentina’s first large-scale exercise of year 2010. Close to 250 service men and women, incorporating a small Army delegation, gathered in El Plumerillo (Mendoza) for a combat search and rescue (C-SAR) exercise, the third in the Valkyria series initiated two years earlier. Air Force colonel Gerardo Isaac, a reputed Malvinas War Veteran flying A-4C Skyhawks during the war, was exercise director.
Actual flying operations were delayed on 14 and 15 April due to foul weather conditions in the Buenos Aires area, which left combat aircraft deployed to Mendoza without supporting assets required for the exercise. After the deployment and preparation phases, where assets were put in place, procedures were agreed-upon and preliminary practice flights were performed, actual operations started on Monday 19. C-SAR sorties were initially practiced inside IV Air Brigade facilities and later moved to undefined high mountain sectors around the city of Mendoza for added realism and increased unpredictability for participating forces.
Even though a number of IA-58 Pucará and IA-63 Pampa combat aircraft took part in the exercise, the key roles were played by C-SAR helicopters and Air Force special operations forces practicing furtive incursions into purportedly unfriendly territories, securing of safety perimeters, landings-by-rope and quick extraction of downed flying crews. An unexpected emergency occurred on Saturday 17, when one of the Army Hueys hydraulic system failed causing it to auto-rotate and land in a taxy way in El Plumerillo. An innovative to the exercise was the Electronic Warfare Group Cessna 206, whose existence was publicly revealed for the first time during Valkyria III, and ostensibly provided electronic intelligence support.
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Participating aircraft included I Air Brigade C-130 Hercules (TC-56) and F.28 Fellowship (TC-55), II Air Brigade F.27 Friendship (TC-75), III Air Brigade IA-58 Pucará (A-575, A-577, A-582, A-585), IV Air Brigade IA-63 Pampa (E-817, E-819, E-821) and SA-315 Lama (H-63), VII Air Brigade Bell 212 (H-81 + 1) and Hughes 369 (PGH-03, H-40 + 1), IX Air Brigade DHC-6 Twin Otter (T-81, T-86) and Saab 340 (T-33), Morón Air Base PA-34 Seneca (PG-322?) and the already mentioned Cessna 206 (VR-23). Army aviation contributed with UH-1H Huey (AE-4×8 + 1) and SA-315 Lama (AE-38x).
Horacio Clariá, D. Kopac, Martín Kubo, Guillermo Landa and Gustavo Lepez (Toda la Aviación) contributed to this report, which was originally published in Aeromilitaria Argentina. Fuerza Aérea Argentina (official), Diario Uno and Los Andes were also checked.
