The Israeli and German Air Force military joint excercise Blue Wings 2020, extended over two weeks and was being held as part of the Multinational Air Group exercise, which sees air forces from NATO and allied states engage in maneuvers. It was the first joint exercise ever between the IAF and German Air Force to take place on German soil and was also the only international exercise the IAF is conducting abroad this year, due to the coronavirus pandemic. The German Air Force held joint exercises in Israel last fall. The IAF deployed 6 F-16's, a Gulfstream V SIGINT aircraft (679), a Gulfstream G550 CAEW (569) and various support aircraft like B707 tankers to Nörvenich AB close to the Dutch border. For more detailled information on the Israeli Air Force Gulfstreams click here.
A joint exercise by the Israeli and German air forces included on Tuesday August 18 a historic flyover above the Dachau concentration camp and Munich in memory of the Holocaust and victims of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre. Israeli F-16s and German Eurofighters escorted an Israeli Air Force Gulfstream G550 carrying the commanders of both air forces – Israel Air Force Commander Maj. Gen. Amikam Norkin and chief of the German air force Lt. Gen. Ingo Gerhartz – over the camp memorial outside Munich. Then the flyover passed above the Fürstenfeldbruck Air Base and the Olympic village where 11 Israeli athletes and coaches were murdered during the 1972 Summer Olympics in a terrorist attack carried out by the Black September Palestinian terrorist group. Some remembrance items where on board the aircraft like personal items from Dachau survivors and Israeli (Olympic) flags.