The North Atlantic alliance began historic aerial deployments over Europe on Monday.
Dubbed “Air Defender 23,” the German-led war games will include 250 aircraft and 10,000 soldiers. A bulk of the forces, 2,000 troops and 100 planes, are American. In total, 25 countries will participate in the drills, including Japan and Sweden. NATO has been holding “Air Defender” military exercises regularly since they were first held in 2018. The maneuvers will run until June 23.
US Ambassador to Germany Amy Gutmann stated the drills are intended as a message to Russian President Vladimir Putin. “I would be pretty surprised if any world leader was not taking note of what this shows in terms of the spirit of this alliance, which means the strength of this alliance, and that includes Mr. Putin,” she said.
General Michael Loh, director of the US Air National Guard, explained the war games will help NATO pilots prepare for war with Moscow, saying “this is about now establishing what it means to go against a great power in a great power competition.”
Air Defender 23 got underway as tensions between the Western military bloc and Russia are at an all-time high. On Saturday, hundreds of Germans gathered to protest the war games, many arguing the drills will only fuel hostilities. The protesters called for “peace – not war” and demanded a diplomatic solution.
The Air Defender war drills span a vast area, with NATO stating that the training missions will primarily take place over the North Sea, the Baltic Sea and Southern Germany.
The war games are also likely to pose a nuisance for civilian air traffic, as up to 800 flights are expected to be rerouted each day. Delays and longer flight times “will be unavoidable,” according to German air-traffic control officials. “This is due to the expected dynamic nature of this unique large-scale exercise as well as the existing complexity of the system.”
