With dates for Cobra Warrior 26-1 recently announced (16/3/26 – 27/3/26) AeroResource’s Westleigh Bushell takes a look back at the last iteration of Cobra Warrior by taking a look at each of the participating nations.

Canada

The Royal Canadian Air Force returned to RAF Waddington for Cobra Warrior 25-2. 425 Squadron (Alouettes) from Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Bagotville, attended the exercise, operating from RAF Waddington with eight McDonnell Douglas CF-188A Hornets. The Hornets were escorted across the Atlantic by an Airbus CC-150T Polaris, and a CC130J Hercules providing essential top cover for the crossing. All support equipment arrived ahead of the exercise courtesy of 429 Squadron and their Boeing CC-177 Globemaster III’s.
 
The McDonnell Douglas CF-188A Hornets that attended from 425 Squadron were:
 
188794,188782,188771,188749,188729,188767,188734,188754

The Lockheed CC-130HT Hercules from 435 Squadron was:

130341

It is unfortunately expected that this will be the final appearance at Cobra Warrior and probably this side of the Atlantic by a classic RCAF CC-130HT Hercules with the type being replaced with the CASA CC-295 Kingfisher during 2026.

“OILER 41”

AeroResource were very fortunate to be onboard OILER41 on 18th September 2025. The flight took us out to air-to-air Refuelling Area 5 (AARA5). The flight was a non-Cobra warrior flight supporting a four ship of CF-188 Hornets. With all four jets taking advantage of the low-level flying areas after their air-to-air tanking. Departing from Waddington’s runway 20 with 55,000 lbs of fuel onboard, 130341 lumbered into the sky and headed north to meet SCAR flight at AARA5. All four CF188’s took on fuel from both sides before leaving OILER41 with some spirited exits before heading to the low flying area. We returned to RAF Waddington with a very enjoyable run ‘n’ break concluding a memorable two hours onboard.

130341 has been with the RCAF since delivery in 1991 and carries out multiple tasks covering Search and Rescue, transport and air refuelling. Based at CFB Winnipeg, 435 Squadron are the last unit flying the Lockheed CC130HT.
 
Canada wasn’t just deployed to Europe for Cobra Warrior. When CW25-2 concluded the Canadian contingent moved up to Ämari air base, Estonia. This move was to participate in Exercise TARASSIS 25, an exercise across Northern Europe and the Baltics under Operation REASSURANCE. This two-week exercise included CF188’s operating from the Jägala-Käravete highway in Estonia. This was a milestone for Canada as this was the first time that Canadian fighters have participated in highway operations.
 
The deployment also saw the Hercules crews practice tactical landings while operating from an unprepared runway. The location was Vainode Airbase, a former Sukhoi Su-27 airbase abandoned in 1993 by the USSR not long after Latvia gained independence. A Team of Royal Air Force Tactical Air Traffic Control (TacATC) turned the abandoned airfield into an active area for troop transport, resupply mission by the Hercules while six CF-188’s provided close air support over the airfield. 425 Squadron also headed further North to work alongside Finnish Air Force F-18 Hornets from Karelia Air Wing, HävLLV 31, with the CC-130HT providing air-to-air refuelling.
 
Canada has a large presence in the Baltic states under Operation REASSURANCE; the operation is the Canadian Armed forces largest mission overseas and strengthens ties with their NATO allies in Europe. Alongside the Estonian and Latvian hosts TARASSIS saw the Canadians working with Finnish, Spanish, British counterparts.

Germany

Eight German Air Force EF2000 Typhoons from TLG-74 Neuburg also participated whilst based at RAF Waddington for the exercise duration. These were:
 
30+47,30+62,30+69,30+94
31+28,31+35,31+19,31+11
 
Support flights for the Germans was provided by bi-national air transport comprising Lockheed C-130J Hercules and LTG62 Airbus A400M. We look forward to seeing Germany at CW26-1, after they confirmed their attendance.

Italy

RAF Coningsby also played a part in the exercise by hosting the Italian contingent. This exercise comprised of six Eurofighter Typhoons from a mixture of squadrons within the Italian Air Force. These were as follows:
 
4º Stormo from Grosseto
MM7312/4-44
MM7345/4-65
 
36º Stormo from Gioia Del Colle
MM7296/36-24
MM7290/36-22
 
37º Stormo from Trapani
MM7330/37-28
 
51º Stormo from Istrana
MM7311/51-11
 
46º Brigata Aerea delivered the deployments support equipment with a Lockheed C-130J Hercules.

United States

UK based units from across USAFE were also involved in the exercise. These included RAF Mildenhall and the 100th ARW, RAF Lakenheath fighters whilst smokers from Barksdale AFB were the pick of the USAF participants. Two Boeing B-52H’s arrived at RAF Fairford from the 307BW 12th September as SCALP 93 and 94. This was the the first time the 307BW have participated in Cobra Warrior since 2019.
 
Although both jets were marked up, it was 61-0014 that was of particular interest as it was marked up with the OT (Operational Test) tail code from the 49th Test and Evaluation Squadron (TES). The two deployed aircraft were:
 
61-0014 (OT 49 TES)
61-0029 (BD 93rd BS)

United Kingdom

With the Royal Air Force being the main protagonist in Cobra Warrior since its inception in 2019, it was not a surprise that most of the frontline squadrons participated in CW25-2. In between all the missions being carried out, one Cobra Warrior milestone was successfully carried out by 42 (torpedo bomber) Squadron from RAF Lossiemouth flying two sorties with a Boeing KC135 from 100th ARW. This marked the first time a Royal Air Force Boeing P-8 Poseidon MRA.1 had air-to-air refuelled.

Civilian ‘Red Air’

The operational area for Cobra Warrior includes Combat airspace EGD514 over the North Sea. This area is where the NATO partners attending the exercise go up against world leading Red Air assets replicating air-to-air combat. Two of Europe’s largest adversary teams played their part in cobra warrior 25-2; UK based Draken and German based Top Aces both of which operated from their respective bases.
 
Draken flew daily missions from their Teeside base with Falcon 20 and L-159E Honey Badgers. These jets offer a mix of electronic warfare, target towing and surface vessel attack from the Falcon 20’s and aggressor training with the Honey Badgers.
 
Top Aces flew their A-4 Skyhawks from Cuxhaven, Germany providing over 60 hours of adversary support over the North Sea. The A-4 Skyhawk fleet are equipped with Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar and the Advanced Aggressor Mission System (AAMS) allowing the A-4 to provide a more advanced air-to-air capability.

AeroResource would very much like to thank both the Royal Air Force media personnel at RAF Waddington and 435 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force for the opportunity as well as Sam Pilcher for providing additional images of the participants.

You can find out more about the exercise on the RAF’s website: https://www.raf.mod.uk/news/articles/air-forces-unite-in-multinational-air-exercise/

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