NATO's largest air force exercise in the organization's history

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will begin its largest European air force deployment exercise in its history next week.

According to German and American officials, the Air Defender 23 (Air Defense 23) exercise will take place over 10 days, starting from June 12, with the participation of 6 military aircraft from 220 member countries and partner countries. Exercise led by German forces.

Presenting the exercise plans, US Ambassador to Germany Amy Gutmann said the exercise is purely defensive in nature, reflecting the alliance spirit and strength of this bloc.

The exercise will include tactical and tactical training, taking place mainly at air bases in Germany and the Czech Republic, Estonia and Latvia. Lieutenant General Michael Loh, commander of the US Air National Guard (ANG), said the focus of the exercise was to strengthen the long-term US presence in Europe as well as to provide training on a larger scale than previous exercises in the continent.

Lieutenant General Michael Loh said the exercise caused minimal disruption to civil air traffic. Meanwhile, German Air Force Commander Ingo Gerhartz said that most of the about 2.000 flights within the framework of the exercises will be carried out over the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, so there will be no noise to the population.

In addition, the organizers have also made efforts to minimize disruption to civil air traffic.

About 10.000 troops are scheduled to take part in the drills, with training contents such as quickly sending reinforcements to Germany in the event of a conflict.

Due to its location in central Europe, Germany will be a major logistics hub and main staging area for NATO exercises. The United States will send about 100 aircraft, mostly from ANG, and send 2.000 troops to Europe to participate in the exercise.

The exercise, scheduled to open on June 12 at Wunstorf Air Base (Hannover region in Lower Saxony), focuses on defense and mutual assistance, emulating Article 6 of the NATO Treaty, in which partners pledge to assist in the event of an armed attack against one or more NATO members.

According to the current plan, there will be three exercise zones in German airspace, in which the exercises will take place at different times for about 3 hours each day.

(Source: vietnamplus)