NATO has launched the largest air exercise in its history to demonstrate its unity in the face of Russian threats.

NATO begins its biggest this Monday Airborne military maneuvers, Coordinated by Germany and designed to show the unity of its members Potential threatsEspecially from Russia.

exercise”Air Defender 23″ Runs up to and including June 23 250 military aircraft from 25 NATO countries and associates etc Japan and SwedenThe last candidate to join the alliance.

Nails 10,000 people Participate in drills aimed at strengthening operational capability and defense readiness Drones and cruise missiles In the event of an attack on cities, airfields or ports within NATO territory.

exercise”Air Defender” was created in 2018 as part of a response to Russia annexed Crimea in 2014. But “Not directed against anyone”, Lt. Gen. said last week Here’s gerhartzof the German Luftwaffe.

The training “does not send planes, for example, in the direction of Kaliningrad”, A Russian enclave bordering the two member states of Poland and Lithuania.

“We are a defensive alliance and that is how this exercise was planned.”, he emphasized.

US Ambassador to Germany Amy GoodmanDrill “Without a shadow of a doubt, The Agility and speed of our friendly force”, and that should send a message to other countries like Russia.

“The spirit of this alliance, the strength of this alliance and Mr. Putin in it,” he told reporters of Russian President Vladimir.

“By synchronizing, we amplify our strengths”, he shrugs.

Russia’s war in Ukraine has strengthened the Western military alliance formed almost 75 years ago as a front against the Soviet Union.

Finland and SwedenTraditionally neutral, calling to avoid conflicts with Moscow NATO membership February 2022 After the Russian invasion.

Article 5 of NATO states that an attack against one member of the alliance is considered an attack against all its members.

Training includes training at operational and tactical levelMainly in Germany, as well Czech Republic, Estonia and Latvia.

German chancellor Olaf Schaals, They will visit the pilots on Friday at the field Schleswig-Holstein AirlineIn northern Germany.

General Michael LohThe director of the US Air National Guard said: The NATO mission is at a “tipping point”.

“A lot has changed in the strategic landscape in the world, especially here in Europe.He declared.

Loh added that the exercise would “complement the permanent US presence in Europe” and focus on training “on a larger scale than is done on the continent”.

Many of the coalition pilots will be working together for the first time, he said.

“It’s about running on the old relationship we have and building new relationships with this generation of young drivers.”, he revealed.

messenger Goodman He noted that there are no plans for “Air Defender” to be a continuing exercise, though he clarified that “we don’t want it to be the last.”

When asked about the possible effects of the maneuvers on civil aviation, Gerhardts said planners will do everything they can to limit flight delays or cancellations.

German officials acknowledged that flight schedules could be affected by these maneuvers.

(With information from AFP)

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