Exercise Real Thaw

Real Thaw is an annual military exercise organized and hosted by the Portuguese Air Force (PoAF) with the participation of forces from the Army and Navy and foreign military forces. The exercise has the objective of creating a realistic as possible operational environment in which Portuguese forces might participate, provide joint training with both land, air and naval forces, and provide interoperability between different countries.

History
The exercise originated from two exercises (Real Warm and Real Thaw 2008) organized at Montijo Air Base (BA5) in 2008 with the personnel from 201 Squadron and 301 Squadron. The first official Real Thaw took place in 2009 and has since been coordinated and hosted by the BA5 personnel, and involves ground-attack, close air support, combat search and rescue, tactical transport, Composite Air Operations (COMAO), personnel recovery, Slow Mover Protection, High Value Airborne Protection (HVAA), convoy escort and electronic warfare operations.

Real Thaw 2009
The first Real Thaw took place in 2009 for four weeks involving 400 personnel from the PoAF, 40 from the Portuguese Army's Special Operations and airborne, as well personnel from the Portuguese Marines integrated in a parallel training exercise of the Portuguese Navy. International participated in the exercise was composed of Joint terminal attack controller teams from the United States, four F-16 fighters from the Royal Danish Air Force, four F-18 fighters from the Spanish Air Force's Ala 15 and a NATO E-3A Sentry AWACS.

Real Thaw 2010
Real Thaw 2010 took place from 18 January to 4 February with the foreign participation of F-16 fighters from Belgium Air Force and Royal Danish Air Force, Spanish Air Force F-18 fighters, E-3 Sentry from NATO, and forward air controllers from the United States, Denmark and Lithuania.

Real Thaw 2011
The exercise in 2011 took place from 28 March to 8 April, with units from the three branches of the Portuguese Armed Forces and the participation of forward air controllers from the United States, C-130 from the Belgium Air Force, a Cobham's electronic warfare Falcon 20 from the United Kingdom, F-18 fighters from the Spanish Air Force. The exercise was postponed to March and April due to an NATO evaluation and exercise (FORCEVAL) of the 201 and 301 Squadron taking place that year at the time period that Real Thaw usually takes place.

Real Thaw 2012
In 2012 the exercise was organized from 23 January to 3 February, in addition to the national military forces from the Portuguese Army, Air Force and Navy, took part in the exercise forward air controllers from the United States and the Netherlands, Eurofighter Typhoon fighters from the Spanish Air Force's Ala 11 and one Airbus A330 MRTT, one Falcon 20 from the United Kingdom, and one E-3 Sentry AWACS from NATO.

Real Thaw 2013
Real Thaw 2013 takes place from 11 to 22 February and marks its fifth anniversary. The exercise involves the Portuguese Army, Air Force and Navy, and four international forces: Forward air controllers (FAC) and medical staff from the Netherlands, FAC and A-10 Thunderbolt II from 81st Fighter Squadron, supported by 351st Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron, from the United States, Cobham's Falcon 20 from the United Kingdom, and one E-3 Sentry AWACS from NATO.

National participants

 * Portuguese Army
 * Portuguese Army Commandos
 * Special Operations Troops Centre
 * Parachute Troops School
 * Portuguese Navy
 * Special Actions Detachment
 * Portuguese Air Force
 * 201 Squadron
 * 301 Squadron
 * 501 Squadron
 * 502 Squadron
 * 552 Squadron
 * 601 Squadron
 * 751 Squadron
 * UPF

International participants

 * NATO
 * Boeing E-3 Sentry AWACS
 * 🇧🇪 Belgium
 * Belgian Air Component (F-16 Fighting Falcon, C-130 Hercules)
 * 🇩🇰 Denmark
 * Eskadrille 727 (F-16 Fighting Falcon)
 * Eskadrille 730 (F-16 Fighting Falcon)
 * UK
 * Cobham plc (Falcon 20 Electronic Warfare Training )
 * 🇪🇸 Spain
 * Ala 11 (Eurofighter Typhoon)
 * Ala 15 (F-18 Hornet)
 * 🇺🇸 USA
 * 81st Fighter Squadron (A-10 Thunderbolt II)