NATO has begun its largest-ever air force deployment drills in the Alliance’s history. The exercise is deemed at showing solidarity among the bloc’s allies and members, as frictions with Russia have risen, since Moscow’s full-blown aggression in Ukraine in February 2022.
According to the German Air Force, the “Air Defender 23” drills, which has already commenced, comprised of around 250 military aircraft from 25 NATO and partner nations, including Japan and NATO candidate Sweden.
The exercises will go on till June 23, and would include almost 10,000 service personnel. The drill is intended to improve NATO “air forces in a crisis situation,” including defending against drones and cruise missiles in the event of a coordinated assault within a NATO territory. “The significant message we’re sending is that we can defend ourselves,” Lieutenant General Ingo Gerhartz of the German Luftwaffe said.
The “Air Defender 23” exercise was developed in 2018 in part as a reaction to Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. Gerhartz also disclosed that, the exercise was “not targeted at anyone” in particular.
Moreover, Gerhartz stated that, the exercise will not “send any flights, for example, in the direction of Kaliningrad,” a Russian territory neighboring NATO members Poland and Lithuania. “We are a defensive alliance, and that is how this exercise is planned,” the General explained.
Russia’s attack on Ukraine has ignited NATO to be battle ready, as its members sit close to Russia borders. However, Finland and Sweden, who once uphold a neutrality status in order to prevent dispute with Moscow, applied for membership in NATO, as a result of Moscow invasion of Kyiv.
Finland has subsequently become the NATO military alliance’s 31st member, while Sweden’s admission bid continues to be held up by concerns raised by NATO members Turkey and Hungary. NATO’s Article Five however stipulates that, an assault on a member is regarded as an assault on all, and therefore, all member nations must compromise on a membership requests.
Additionally, Boris Pistorius, Germany’s Defense Minister stated that, NATO’s Airforce is “of central importance in the event of an attack, because they are first responders to secure the population and also their own armed forces.” According to Pistorius, the exercise has “the goal of making it clear that, NATO and the German Air Force are ready to defend themselves.”
This includes Russian President Vladimir Putin, and anybody “who threatens our freedom and security,” the Minister cautioned. According to the German Air Force, 100 of the 250 jets involved, have been dispatched to Europe from 42 states in the United States.
According to General Michael Loh, Director of the United State Air National Guard, NATO’s responsibilities are at an “inflexion point.” “A great deal has changed on the strategic landscape throughout the world, especially in Europe,” he remarked.
The mission is aimed at “supplementing the permanent US presence in Europe” as well as delivering training “on a larger scale than what was usually accomplished on the continent,” Loh explained. He stated that several of the coalition pilots were collaborating for the first time. “This is now about establishing what it means to go against a great power in a great power competition.”
Further more, the exercise followed, as NATO leaders announced that, the alliance’s fighter jets were dispatched on multiple sorties last week to conduct an investigation into a suspected Russian military aircraft, over the Baltic Sea.
However, 15 aircraft were launched to examine potential threats, last week. This happens to be the most aircraft launched in a single week this year. According to military officials in NATO member Lithuania, the majority of the Russian military aircraft flew on international airspace without a pre-filed flight schedule, transponder signal, or radio communication.
The intensified visibility of Russian aircraft has been attributed to BALTOPS, a yearly US-led naval military operation in the Baltic Sea involving 50 ships and boats from 19 NATO countries and Sweden. According to Lithuania’s defense ministry, the Russian Baltic Fleet is also undertaking drills.
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