More information has been released by the German Ministry of Defence on the aircraft participating in Exercise Air Defender 2023, which takes places over June 12-23.
Billed as the largest ever aircraft deployment exercise held by NATO, the latest information lists 84 USAF aircraft, the majority (if not all), coming from Air National Guard units in 30 states.
The exercise is expected to bring together 18 nations which will collectively deploy 9,850 personnel. The countries participating in Air Defender 2023 are Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Germany, Finland, France, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Turkey, UK and the US.
The main aim of Air Defender is Germany exercising its role as a “collective defence hub” within Europe.
German Air Force Chief of Staff Lt Gen Ingo Gerhartz said: “With Air Defender 2023, I intend to demonstrate determined Allied Air Power. Together with the US and our allies in Europe, the Luftwaffe will send a highly visible and powerful signal of credible deterrence in the air domain.”
