Czech and British troops ended a two-week military exercise on Friday, in which nearly 300 flights took place

Czech and British troops ended a two-week military exercise on Friday, in which nearly 300 flights took place, a Czech military commander said. The British Harrier and Hawk fighters have returned home from the central Caslav air base, Deputy Commander of the base Josef Hlava told Czech news media. The exercise, code-named Flying Rhino, was affected by the crash of a British Lynx helicopter, which killed six crew members. "We nevertheless succeeded in fully executing the exercise as planned," Hlava was quoted as saying by reports. The war game tested the coordination of ground and air forces. Czech specialists from Namest, South Moravia and Caslav together with British instructors detected ground targets and simulated air attacks. The Czech pilots with L-159s and L-39s have competed with the British Harrier combat aircraft for the first time in the country. "The avionics and equipment of the L-159s enable them 100 percent performance. The aircraft is equipped and built for these kind of tasks, namely for direct air support of ground forces," Hlava said. The Czech pilots, equipped with British night vision goggles, performed two night flights during the exercise, he added.