The city of Konya in Anatolia, central Turkey, is known for its large mosque with the "whirling dervishes," Muslim priests who perform a gyrating dance. Ten miles to the north, its whirling rotors and whining jet engines that dominate Konyas 3nci Ana Jet Üs (3rd Main Jet Base).

At least once a year, the Turkish Air Force stages its Anadolu Kartali (Anatolian Eagle) multinational air exercise at Konya. After participating in Red Flag exercises at Nellis Air Force Base in 1997 and 2000, the Turkish Air Force Command initiated preparations for a similar large-scale exercise of its own, hosted by the 3rd Main Jet Base at Konya

The first-ever Anatolian Eagle exercise, in June 2001, featured participation from Israel, Turkey, and the United States. After this successful debut, three Anatolian Eagle exercises followed in the next year, one national exercise with attendees solely from Türk Hava Kuvvetleriand (THK, the Turkish Air Force) units, and two multinational exercises with limited international participation. Since then, the "Anatolian Eagle Training Center" has staged several national exercises and at least one multinational exercise each year. International participants in this time have included Belgium, Germany, Italy, Israel, Jordan, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the US.

This years multinational edition, AE 2015-01, saw foreign participation from Pakistan (9 Squadron, flying F-16A/Bs), Spain (Ala 15, with EF-18Ms), the UK (XI(F) Squadron, with Typhoon FGR4s) and the USAF (493rd Fighter Squadron, with F-15C/Ds).

Turkish Air Force assets at AE 2015-01 included no fewer than 50 F-16s from nine different squadrons. The THKs two remaining Phantom squadrons, 111 Filo "Panthers" from Eskisehir and 171 Filo "Pirates" from Erhaç, were present with ten F-4E-2020s. Mission support aircraft included two E-7T Airborne Early Warning and Control (737 AEW&C) aircraft, AS532AL Cougar Combat Search and Rescue helicopters, and a KC-135R tanker. The Turkish Army also joined the exercise with an S-70 Blackhawk and two brand-new T129A attack helicopters.

Air refueling capacity was provided by a German Air Force Airbus A310MRTT tanker, in addition to the THK KC-135. NATO provided additional AEW&C assets with two E-3A Sentry aircraft. In total over 100 aircraft participated in Anatolian Eagle 2015-01, having flown close to 1,000 sorties in a two-week period.

Much like the Red Flag exercises that inspired it, the main goal of Anatolian Eagle 2015-01 was to simulate large-scale combined air operations (COMAO). It provided a realistic operational training environment, with several wartime scenarios ranging from simple to very complex. To make this possible, Anatolian Eagle uses 50,000 square nautical miles of controlled airspace, mainly located in southern Turkey and over the Mediterranean Sea. Three air-to-ground ranges are available within the training area. Simulated surface-to-air missile threats made the missions as real as possible.

Mission scenarios usually incorporated engagements between "Blue" and "Red" forces. The guest nations are always part of the Blue force, augmented by THK F-4s and F-16s. The defending Red forces are represented by designated Turkish F-16 squadrons, who retain this role throughout the exercise. The Anatolian Eagle Training Center acts as the White force, taking care of the training scenarios, pre- and post-mission briefings, evaluation and analysis.

The next multinational Anatolian Eagle exercise is planned for early June 2016. It will most likely be the last Anatolian Eagle to see Phantoms participating, as the end of their service life is approaching: the Turkish F-4E-2020s are expected to be withdrawn in 2017.