Badge to commemorate the exercise.

From the most northern Luftwaffe base in Germany to the most southern home of Flight Test Technology in South Africa - elements of the German Air Force and the German Navy take part with elements of the South African Navy and Air Force in the two nation exercise: “Good Hope II – 2006” over the period mid February to the end of March 2006. The main aim of Good Hope 2006 is to further co-operation between the two Armed Forces in order to create a basis for future joint operations. By combining an air and sea component from both Nations a multi facetted training environment is created which also saw the live firing of both air-air and anti-ship munitions. A further aspect especially for the visitors is the deployment away from base and subsequent test of logistics to mount effective operations in unfamiliar terrain outside NATO. In this aspect the South Africans had a slight advantage although TFDC is not the home base of 2 Sqdn SAAF.

Recently the German Armed Forces went through a transformation with the fast jet aircraft of the Navy being transferred to the German Luftwaffe, were in the past the Navy, Army and Air Force each used their own aircraft. Another aspect is through modern technology the Luftwaffe is capable of performing anti-shipping operations without strike guidance from the German Navy. The anti-ship capability of the Luftwaffe is one of the main aspects tested for the first time during Good Hope 2006. Each aircraft carried and subsequently launched a single Kormoran missile at a time to ensure the flight crews receive thorough live firing training in anti-ship operations.

 Early in 2006 the “EAV” ( Einsatzausbildungsverband  or Training Unit ) of the German Navy left the home port  of Wilhelmshaven to participate in a number of exercises in Europe, Africa and South America before returning to Germany later in the year. Arguably the most exciting exercise was “Good Hope II” just off the Cape Coast in South Africa in conjunction with the Luftwaffe and SANDF. This is the largest international air force exercise outside NATO borders for 2006. During 2006 the German Air Force celebrates its 50th anniversary of the new Luftwaffe.