250 aircraft and 10,000 people from 25 countries will take part in the exercise organized in different parts of Germany. Finland participates in the exercise with four Hornet fighters.
WUNSTORF How would NATO allies act if a hostile state attacked a member country?
The answer to this can be seen from the skies of Germany, where the largest joint exercise of rapid response forces in the history of the defense alliance is underway.
The air operation exercise organized by Germany has brought together almost 250 aircraft and 10,000 people from 25 countries in the air operation exercise organized in different parts of Germany.
The exercise also includes daily missions to the eastern allied countries.
– The starting point of the exercise is that Europe is targeted by aggression. Our mission is to defend our airspace together with our allies, commander of the 62nd Airlift Squadron based at Wunstorf Christian John says.
The exercise is the message
The United States’ contribution to the exercise is significant: the NATO powerhouse has sent more than a hundred National Guard aircraft to the exercise.
There are both modern F35 fighters and older fighter models and transport planes.
Transporting aircraft and supplies to Europe has required the creation of an air bridge between the continents.
Among other things, the challenge has been refueling fighters in the air in connection with crossing the Atlantic.
– The exercise sends a clear message that NATO is ready to defend every corner in the territories belonging to the allies, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said while visiting Jagel Air Base on Tuesday.
Finland’s contribution is significant
Finland has sent a detachment of about 40 people consisting of four Hornet fighters to the exercise.
The lieutenant colonel in charge of the department Rami Lindström according to Finland has received a lot of responsibility in planning the flight tours of the joint exercise.
– As far as flight operations are concerned, we have played quite a large role in this exercise.
According to Lindström, flight tours of sixty planes require seamless communication and hardware compatibility. Both efficiency and flight safety must be considered in the exercise.
– It’s a challenging performance, and that’s what we train for here, says Lindström.
An imagined scenario
The starting point of the Air Defender exercise is a fictitious scenario in which a hostile alliance takes over a quarter of Germany.
The scene is chillingly realistic despite the fact that the exercise was launched already in 2018, i.e. before Russia’s full-scale attack on Ukraine.
– This is an imagined situation. But surely every country is following the situation in Ukraine closely and of course trying to learn from it, says Lindström.
The second week of training ends tomorrow. NATO has never organized such a large rapid action force air exercise before.