Cobra Warrior 23-1

Slightly overdue on this one but it is a good one, so hopefully its worth the wait…

On the 21st March I ventured up to RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire. The goal, capture the Indian Air Force Mirages that were taking part in exercise Cobra Warrior. CW happens twice a year, first in March then usually again in September and lasts for approximately 3 weeks. The exercise is designed to bring participants an opportunity to test and display their capabilities whilst delivering a full spectrum of Air Operations, covering defensive and offensive counter-air as well as strike operations.

The exercise this time round featured operations from both RAF Waddington and RAF Coningsby. Operating out of Waddington were X5 Indian Air Force Mirage 2000s, X6 Finnish Air Force F/A-18C Hornets and X6 Belgian Air Force F-16s (the F16s returned back to Belgium after week 2 so unfortunately I missed them on my visit!). Operating out of Coningsby were X6 Royal Saudi Air Force Eurofighter Typhoons.

Right, that’s the context, now onto my visit – I arrived at the Waddington Aircraft Viewing Enclosure, or the WAVE as it is most commonly known in the aviation community, early doors at 0730 ish. Expectation for Cobra Warrior Ops on the day was a morning sortie, followed by an afternoon sortie – I managed to get some info on this prior to my visit. Currently the Red Arrows are operating out of Waddington and they had 3 sorties scheduled for the day. Fortunately the weather was ok, nice clouds at points and some nice light. Bloody freezing though.

More often than not in the world of aviation, things change. Unfortunately this day was no exception. The morning sortie was due to feature a flight of X4 Finnish F/A-18Cs and X4 Indian Mirages at around 0900. What actually materialised were 4 Finns at 1155 and no Indian Mirages, rumour has it that they ditched the morning mission. Already at this point I was starting to think about the horrible reality of not getting to see what I made the trip for, the Mirages. For context, these jets are becoming increasingly rare as other operators of the type continue to draw down the use of them, replacing them with more modern alternatives. The Reds had already been out on a sortie earlier in the morning, so I wasn’t going to draw a complete blank…

The hours went by and there was a fair amount of activity at the base. X3 sorties for the Reds, an ex-RAF Sentinel left for the last time, a Belgian Air Force A400 arrived & departed (picking up equipment from the F-16s) and a couple of Shadow R1s hit up the circuit – still no Mirages though. The return of the Finns that went out in the morning also made their return. However there was hope, as I’d been reliably informed that the planned afternoon sortie was due to feature X2 Mirages and X2 Hornets…

At around 1600 after a brief rain shower, the noise of jets starting filled the air and sure enough the jets in question were both the Finns and the Indians! With the light fading, the taxiway started to fill with X4 Finnish Hornets and X4 Indian Mirages. Result and job done. Was pleased with the results given the conditions, a very enjoyable day out. Its not often these days that you get that much variety at an RAF base, Cobra Warrior delivered the goods this year though!

A quick word on photographing at RAF Waddington. Below is a map that hopefully gives you an idea of parking and also my position at the end of the runway. I knew I wanted to get some images of the jets approaching almost head-on when taxiing which is why I situated myself where I did. A short walk up the road into the field just beyond the threshold positions you nicely for anything landing.

Waddington has a fairly low fence line, particularly at the end of the runway where I was shooting from. So a small stepladder gives you some great elevation to clear any of the shrubbery in the foreground.

All in all, a great visit. Very happy to see the Indian Mirages and I’ll definitely be making the effort to return in September for Cobra Warrior 2023-2!

Enjoy the images!

Jack

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