On the 6th and the 7th of October 2016 the Hellenic Armed Forces conducted the final phases of the large scale annual national exercise “Parmenion 2016”.The two final phases of the exercise took place on the island of Chios and at “Aetos” military training area, north of the city of Alexandroupolis.
The exercise included the majority of the units based on the Central & Eastern Macedonia regions, Thrace and the island of the Eastern Aegean. Parmenion 2016 exercise started on the 3rd of October and finished on the 7th of October.
The first of the last two final phases of “Parmenion 2016” took place on the island of Chios and included an amphibious landing exercise of the 32nd Marines Brigade and platoons from the Special Forces Reconnaissance Unit.
The 32nd Marines Brigade “Moravas” participated with units from the 521st Marines Battalion and the 575th Marines Battalion, one tank platoon of the 32nd Armoured Squadron equipped with Leopard 1A5 main battle tanks, elements from the 32nd Engineer Company, the 32nd Signal Company and the 32nd Support Battalion.
Three Hellenic Navy Jason-class LST boats carried the main force of the 32nd Marines Brigade from the mainland to the island of Chios, while part of the Brigade’s units was transported to the island by 6 UH-1H and 2 CH-47SD Chinook helicopters one NH-90TTH, under the protection of 4 AH-64DHA Apache attack helicopters.
The three LST boats were escorted and protected by a flotilla of 5 frigates (Elli-class and Hydra-class), 3 fast attack missile boats, 2 submarines (1 Type-209/1200, and 1 Type-214) two special-forces fast attack boats and one Coast Guard patrol boat.
The 32nd Marines Brigade was deployed to the beach of “Koskinas” initially with 30 fast inflatable boats and later with 4 LCVP. The main battle tanks, the armoured personnel carriers, the trucks and the bulldozers were transported to the beach by the three LST boats.
The task of the 32nd Marines Brigade was to reinforce the friendly units that according to the scenario were defending the island from an invasion.
The amphibious landing flotilla was protected by 2 F-16C Block50+ and 2 Mirage 2000-5MkII fighter aircraft.
In total 1.450 members of the Hellenic Armed Forces were involved in this part of the exercise.
The second part of the final phase of the “Parmenion 2016” exercise took place the next day, on the 7th of October at “Aetos” military training area, north of the city of Alexandroupolis, about 290km north from the area where the first part of the final phase of the exercise took place.
The military formation that practiced during this part of the exercise was the 7th Mechanized Infantry Brigade “Sarantaporos”.
Approximately 3.500 troops were trained during this part of the exercise which included heavy artillery fire aerial bombardments and finally a tank battalion attack escorted by mechanized infantry with the support of AH-64A+/DHA Apache attack helicopters.
During this part of the final phase of the “Parmenion 2016” exercise, the Hellenic Air Force and the Hellenic Army Aviation participated with 35 fighter jets and bomber, transport and attack helicopters as well as one EMB-145H AEW&C Erieye aircraft.
Furthermore 590 main battle tanks, artillery pieces, armoured personnel carriers, self-propelled mortars, armoured 4×4 vehicles equipped with anti-tank missiles, auxiliary vehicles and 4×4 reconnaissance vehicles were also used.