On 6thüJanuary, the UK and French Air Forces flew a combined mission involving twoüRAF Voyagerütankers escorting and refuelling four Armee de l'air Mirage 2000 fightersüen 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.
TheüVoyagerütankers based atüRAF Brize Nortonüin 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.