This will be the largest aerial maneuver exercise ever conducted by NATO. Next week will take place the “Air Defender 23” operation, coordinated by Germany over ten days from Monday June 12, which will bring together some 220 military aircraft from 25 member countries and partners of the transatlantic organization, have announced this Wednesday by American and German officials.
The exercise will be of a purely defensive nature but will also aim to send a message, in particular to Russia in the particular context of the war in Ukraine, explained to the press the ambassador of the United States in Germany, Amy Gutmann. . “I would be very surprised if a world leader did not take note of what this shows in terms of the spirit of this alliance, what the strength of this alliance means, and that includes Mr. Putin,” the Russian president said. she argues.
Send a clear message to Russia
NATO is not the only organization to want to show Russia its defensive air power: on June 9, the “Arctic Challenge” exercise, which takes place every two years. This year, it brought together 150 military aircraft from 14 countries, from French Rafales and Mirages to German Eurofighters, Swedish Gripens and even Norwegian F-16s and American F-35s, to show their solidarity with these countries in northern Europe, sensitive since the invasion of Ukraine.
The “Air Defender 23” exercise will also include operational and tactical exercises, mainly in northern Germany, but also in the Czech Republic, Estonia and Latvia. Created in 2018 and prepared by the armies for four years during joint annual exercises, it had already been partly thought of as a response to the 2014 annexation of Crimea by Russia. Even if he is not specifically targeting “no one”, for his part assured General Ingo Gerhartz, head of the German Air Force. The 23 different types of combat aircraft from the 25 participating air forces will thus be present, including a hundred for the American Air National Guard alone, which will aim to test its responsiveness to crossing the Atlantic in the event of a major crisis. in Europe. Their aim is to test their ability to react in a coordinated and efficient manner in the event of an attack.
Test transatlantic responsiveness
“A lot has changed in the global strategic landscape, especially here in Europe,” noted General Michael Loh, director of the US Air National Guard, for whom NATO is at a “point of inflection”. “This exercise is intended to supplement the permanent presence of the United States in Europe and to provide training on a larger scale than what is usually accomplished on the continent,” he said. Japan and Sweden will be integrated into the “Air Defender 23” as allied members of NATO.
There are no plans at this stage to make “Air Defender” a regular exercise, Amy Gutmann said. But, she added, “we don’t want this exercise to be the last.” Created at the start of the Cold War, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has become the main common military defense organization, with 31 member countries in Europe and North America.
Other aerial military deployment exercises are planned for the coming months. France is already preparing the 2023 edition of its very long-distance means projection exercise called “Pégase”. At the end of June, it will mobilize ten Rafale, five MRTT refueling planes and four 1,400 m transport planes, which will have to reach Malaysia in 48 hours. The fleet will take part a few days later in an American exercise “Mobility Guardian”.