On 6th January, the UK and French Air Forces flew a combined mission involving two RAF Voyager tankers escorting and refuelling four Armee de l’air Mirage 2000 fighters en route to Africa.
The Long-Range Projection mission to Djibouti was a real-life demonstration of the Combined Joint Expeditionary Force Air Component’s (CJEF(Air)) capability to project aircraft long distance at pace.
The Voyager tankers based at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire provided Air-to-Air refuelling for the French jets throughout their near 4000-mile journey to North East Africa to take part in their Exercise SHAHEEN.
The CJEF is a French-UK military force that was created following the signing of the Lancaster House Treaties by President Sarkozy and Prime Minister Cameron in 2010, and which was re-affirmed by President Macron and Prime Minister May in 2018. The CJEF recently declared full Operational Capability and this mission was a timely demonstration of the regular cooperation between the RAF and the French Air & Space Force.