NATO Conducts Largest Air Force Exercise in Response to Russian-Ukrainian Conflict

BERLIN – NATO staged the largest Air Force exercise in the alliance’s history since wartime Monday Russia and Ukraine keep raging. The alliance’s massive maneuver involved 250 aircraft and some 10,000 troops.

According to the Berlin military, the exercise, dubbed “Air Defender 23”, was organized by Germany between June 12 and 23. Its operations took place over most of the airspace of Germany, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic.

Of the 250 aircraft deployed, 100 of them were deployed by the United States (US).

Besides the US, this massive maneuver was also attended by 24 other countries, including not only NATO members, but also Sweden and Japan.

The focus of the exercise is to optimize and broaden cooperation between participating countries, with plans to model NATO’s Article 5 assistance scenario.

The clause, which lies at the heart of the US-led military bloc, stipulates that an attack on one member of the alliance will be an attack on all of them.

US Ambassador to Germany Amy Gutmann said she would be very surprised if any world leader, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, did not pay attention to what the spirit of this alliance showed.

According to the German Bundeswehr, the drills, which are intended to last up to four hours a day, will result in certain air zones being restricted to military use at certain times of the day, possibly causing certain air traffic disruptions.

While German authorities insist they will try to minimize the impact of “Air Defender 23” on the population, Matthias Maas, head of the German air traffic control union, warned that the drills could have major effects on civil aviation operations.

Spoke to the television station ZDFhead of the German Air Force Ingo Gerhartz said the exercise was first conceived in 2018 as part of NATO’s response to Russia’s actions on the Crimean peninsula.

Crimea was previously a Ukrainian territory, but broke away and joined Russia in a 2014 referendum. Kyiv and its Western allies, however, do not recognize the referendum and see it as an annexation by Moscow.

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