Exercise Real Thaw Real Thaw is an annual military exercise organized and hosted by the Portuguese Air Force ( PoAF ) with the participation of forces from the Army and Navy and foreign military forces . The exercise has the objective of creating a realistic as possible operational environment in which Portuguese forces might participate , provide joint training with both land , air and naval forces , and provide interoperability between different countries . History . The exercise originated from two exercises ( Real Warm and Real Thaw 2008 ) organized at Montijo Air Base ( BA5 ) in 2008 with the personnel from 201 Squadron and 301 Squadron . The first official Real Thaw took place in 2009 and has since been coordinated and hosted by the BA5 personnel , and involves ground - attack , close air support , combat search and rescue , tactical transport , Composite Air Operations ( COMAO ) , personnel recovery , Slow Mover Protection , High Value Airborne Protection ( HVAA ) , convoy escort and electronic warfare operations . Real Thaw 2009 . The first Real Thaw took place in 2009 for four weeks involving 400 personnel from the PoAF , 40 from the Portuguese Army ' s Special Operations and airborne , as well personnel from the Portuguese Marines integrated in a parallel training exercise of the Portuguese Navy . International participated in the exercise was composed of Joint terminal attack controller teams from the United States , four F - 16 fighters from the Royal Danish Air Force , four F - 18 fighters from the Spanish Air Force ' s Ala 15 and a NATO E - 3A Sentry AWACS . Real Thaw 2010 . Real Thaw 2010 took place from 18 January to 4 February with the foreign participation of F - 16 fighters from Belgium Air Force and Royal Danish Air Force , Spanish Air Force F - 18 fighters , E - 3 Sentry from NATO , and forward air control lers from the United States , Denmark and Lithuania . Real Thaw 2011 . The exercise in 2011 took place from 28 March to 8 April , with units from the three branches of the Portuguese Armed Forces and the participation of forward air controllers from the United States , C - 130 from the Belgium Air Force , a Cobham ' s electronic warfare Falcon 20 from the United Kingdom , F - 18 fighters from the Spanish Air Force . The exercise was postponed to March and April due to an NATO evaluation and exercise ( FORCEVAL ) of the 201 and 301 Squadron taking place that year at the time period that Real Thaw usually takes place . Real Thaw 2012 . In 2012 the exercise was organized from 23 January to 3 February , in addition to the national military forces from the Portuguese Army , Air Force and Navy , took part in the exercise forward air controllers from the United States and the Netherlands , Eurofighter Typhoon fighters from the Spanish Air Force ' s Ala 11 and one Airbus A330 MRTT , one Falcon 20 from the United Kingdom , and one E - 3 Sentry AWACS from NATO . Real Thaw 2013 . Real Thaw 2013 takes place from 11 to 22 February and marks its fifth anniversary . The exercise involves the Portuguese Army , Air Force and Navy , and four international forces : Forward air controllers ( FAC ) and medical staff from the Netherlands , FAC and A - 10 Thunderbolt II from 81st Fighter Squadron , supported by 351st Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron , from the United States , Cobham ' s Falcon 20 from the United Kingdom , and one E - 3 Sentry AWACS from NATO .