Top Gun fighter planes carrying out night-time exercises over the Canary Islands

Five EF-18M Hornet fighter planes from the 15th Wing of Zaragoza have arrived in the archipelago to carry out overnight training exercises for a week in Canarian airspace, with F-18s from the 46th Wing, which are responsible for defending the Canary Islands.

During this time, “complex night-time training exercises will take place, in which both offensive missions (OCA – Offensive Counter Air) and defensive missions (DCA – Defensive Counter Air) which are very skilled and demanding missions, especially when there is a greater number of aircraft in the air”, as detailed by the Canary Islands Air Command via an official press release.

“This type of night training in the Canary Islands requires arduous planning and millimetric coordination so that everything goes perfectly, and to make the most of the training.”

“It is very common for different weapons systems from the combat wings of the Airforce and Army, to travel to the archipelago to comply with flight hours and the demanding training requirements that pilots have to carry out”, it explained.

For Top Gun fans, the five EF-18M Hornets, belonging to 151 Squadron, are known by the call sign ‘Toro’ (Bull), while the F-18s located in the Canary Islands are called 'Halcones' which in English translates to Eagles.