2023-06-12 08:23:22
The maneuvers of the I’LL TAKE that start this Monday (12.06.2023) are the largest air military exercise in the alliance’s history. They are coordinated by Germany and are intended to show the unity of its members in the face of potential threats, in particular from Russia.
The “Air Defender 23” exercise will run until June 23 and will include 250 military aircraft from 25 NATO countries and allies like Japan and Sweden, the latter candidate to join the alliance.
Some 10,000 people will take part in the exercises, which aim to strengthen interoperability and readiness to protect against drones and cruise missiles in the event of an attack on cities, airports or seaports within NATO territory.
The “Air Defender” exercise was conceived in 2018 as part of the response to Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, but “it is not directed against anyone,” Lt. Gen. Ingo Gerhartz of the German Luftwaffe said last week.
The exercise will not “send flights, for example, in the direction of Kaliningrad,” the Russian enclave bordering Poland and Lithuania, both member countries. “We are a defensive alliance and this is how this exercise was planned,” he stressed.
US Ambassador to Germany Amy Gutmann said the drill will demonstrate “without a shadow of a doubt the agility and speed of our allied force” and that it should send a message to other countries, including Russia.
“I would be surprised if a world leader doesn’t take note of what this shows in terms of the spirit of this alliance, the strength of this alliance, and that includes Mr. Putin,” he told reporters, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. “By synchronizing, we multiply our strength,” he noted.
The Russian war in Ukraine galvanized the Western military alliance created almost 75 years ago as a front against the Soviet Union.
Finland and Swedentraditionally neutral to avoid conflicts with Moscow, asked to join NATO after the Russian invasion in February 2022.
NATO Article 5 stipulates that an attack against one member of the alliance is considered an attack against all its members. The exercise will include training at the operational and tactical level, mainly in Germany, as well as in the Czech Republic, Estonia and Latvia.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will visit the pilots on Friday at the Schleswig-Jagel airfield in northern Germany.
CP (afp, dpa)
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