Northern Edge is one of a series of US Pacific Command exercises this year, all with the same goal: to prepare joint forces to respond to crises in the Indo-A sia-Pacif ic region, writes Søren Nielsen.
EXERCISE REPORT Northern Edge 2017
MOST OF the lakes were still frozen and the mountains still covered in snow when dozens of fourthand fifth-generation fighters took to the skies over Alaska. As Exercise Northern Edge 2017 (NE17) kicked off on May 1, the jets were joined by surveillance and electronic warfare aircraft, tankers and transports from across the US military.
With spring coming to Alaska in early May, the lakes wouldn’t remain frozen for long. And with the long hours of daylight and excellent weather, NE17 offered just the right training conditions.
The Northern Edge exercises are designed to sharpen participants’ tactical combat skills, improve command, control and communication relationships and develop interoperable plans and programmes across the joint force.
NE17 involved 6,000 personnel from US military units stationed in the continental United States and the Pacific, together with some 200 aircraft from all the services – the participants serving as part of a joint task force, practisin…
