Planning for the training began in 2018. But fighting is escalating at NATO’s doorstep in Ukraine, where Kiev’s forces, backed by weapons from Western allies, are launching an offensive to retake areas Russia has held since President Vladimir last year ordered invasion has conquered V. Putin.
Officials involved in the 25-nation NATO exercise said it was sending a show of solidarity from the alliance.
“I would be quite surprised if any leader didn’t take note of what this shows in terms of the spirit of this alliance, in terms of the strength of this alliance,” Amy Gutmann, the US ambassador to Germany, said recently week to reporters. “This includes Mr. Putin.”
The exercise, known as Air Defender, is led by the federal government and brings together the largest number of aircraft from outside Germany for a training mission since NATO’s founding in 1949. The United States flew about 100 National Guard and Navy aircraft to Germany for the exercises .
The 12-day event kicked off with an air show in Wunstorf, northern Germany, which featured cargo and refueling aircraft – work planes vital in transporting arms and supplies to Ukraine. At five other bases throughout Germany, pilots will carry out further missions with fighter jets, the parade horses of the air.
The exercise comes weeks after the United States reluctantly agreed to allow Ukrainian troops to train and eventually acquire American F-16 fighter jets — not only for the current conflict against Russia, but also as part of a longer-term deterrence strategy.
German Air Force General Ingo Gerhartz, who oversees the Air Defender, said it was “not aimed at anyone” and stressed that no attack scenarios were being practiced. “We are a defensive alliance, so this exercise will be defensive in nature,” General Gerhartz told reporters in Berlin.
But Gen. Gerhartz said when he proposed the exercise in 2018, “the trigger for me at the time was Mr. Putin’s conquest, the annexation of Crimea,” the Ukrainian peninsula, four years earlier. Since Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine last year, General Gerhartz said, allies on NATO’s eastern flank, which is closest to Russia, have been demanding assurances that the alliance will defend them in the event of Moscow aggression.
24 NATO countries – including Finland, the newest member of the alliance – are taking part in the exercises, and Japan is present as an observer. Last month officials in Japan said NATO was considering opening a liaison office in the country amid growing concerns from Western nations over China’s support for Russia. Such an office would be NATO’s first in Asia.
One goal of Air Defender is to test how aircraft from so many countries communicate with each other, said Douglas Barrie, an expert in military aerospace at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a research institute based in London.
Mr Barrie said cargo and fuel flight crews will be closely monitored during exercises due to the important role they play in conflicts, including in Ukraine. But most importantly, he said, the drills are part of a “signaling campaign” – to let Mr Putin know what NATO can do about Russia if necessary.
Even if the drills were planned years ago, Mr. Barrie said: “I would be, shall we say, very surprised if the Alliance did not consider this as part of their overall communications strategy.”
Military organizers have promised that the exercise will have little impact on civilian air traffic, as many of the operations will take place over the North and Baltic Seas.
“We anticipate minimal disruption to civil airline traffic,” said Lt. Gen. Michael A. Loh, who heads the US Air National Guard, in Berlin last week.
However, a German air traffic control union warned in May that the exercise could lead to “massive” disruptions.
Christopher F. Schütze contributed a report from Berlin.