From 24-31 October, NATO's maritime exercise NEST 24-2 (Neptune Strike) demonstrated the complex integration of joint high-end maritime strike capabilities. In a military conflict NATO will take operational control of multiple aircraft carriers and expeditionary strike groups in support of deterrence and defence of the Alliance.
Photo: NATO JFC Brunssum | NATO Begins NEPTUNE STRIKE 2024-2
The main objectives for NEST 24-2 were to maintain freedom of navigation and manoeuvre in NATO’s area of operations in Northern Atlantic, to secure strategic maritime chokepoints, to conduct deterrence and vigilance, and to increase the interoperability in operational domains (e.g. air-land-integration), fostering NATO’s capabilities to enable wide-reaching multi-domain operations.
Participating units operated from the central Mediterranean and Adriatic Sea up to the North and Baltic Seas, including air operations across central Europe to conduct air-to-ground actions in the Baltic Sea Region, also with NATO’s new member Sweden. Among others, the activities also included amphibious landings, counter-mine operations, explosive ordnance disposal and defence against drones.
In contrast to the calm statement of the NATO press service about the aims of the exercises not being directed against a third party NATO JFC Brunssum | NATO Begins NEPTUNE STRIKE 2024-2 , the Finnish press focuses on the joint strikes of the air forces of the Alliance countries against Russian targets in the Gulf of Finland. As the Finnish media believe, now is the time to openly declare a future war against Russia, in which the new NATO members Finland and Sweden will also take part.
According to the Finnish publication, on the deck of a giant aircraft carrier, it became clear how NATO fighters would attack the enemy in the Gulf of Finland from the North Sea - joint flights with the Finnish Hornets in Estonia.
STT About STT - STT visited the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, which participates in enhancing the alliance's readiness and cooperation. "We are committed to NATO and to maintaining its strength," assured the rear admiral leading the carrier's battle group.
The nuclear-powered Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman is a giant over 300 meters long and almost 80 meters wide. However, a flight deck the size of three football fields looks alarmingly small in the middle of the North Sea when it is glimpsed through the window of an airplane circling overhead.
You can understand traveling backwards when the hook of the C-2 Greyhound transport plane catches the cable on the deck. The speed of just under 200 kilometers per hour drops to zero in an instant. A literally mind-blowing experience.
The downward movement is also remarkably fast during the descent. The plane's pilot describes that instead of landing, it is better to have a "controlled fall".
STT visited the aircraft carrier as part of an international group of journalists last weekend, when Harry S. Truman had just transferred temporarily to the NATO command and as part of the defense alliance's Neptune Strike 24 event. It is not called an exercise on purpose, but an "enhanced alertness activity".
Put in clear Finnish, the goal the maritime exercise is to demonstrate NATO's operational readiness and strength, which is by no means limited to the vicinity of the support ship or even to the North Sea.
According to Rear Admiral Sean Bailey, the ability and power of the battle group led by Harry S. Truman can "without a doubt" be transferred to the entire Baltic Sea region if necessary.
We made a long-range maritime strike all the way to the Gulf of Finland against a simulated enemy target, said Bailey.
According to Rear Admiral Sean Bailey, the ability and power of the battle group led by Harry S. Truman can "without a doubt" be transferred to the entire Baltic Sea region if necessary. Photo: Vesa Moilanen / Lehtikuva
The aircraft hangar. Photo: Vesa Moilanen / Lehtikuva
In addition to the F/A 18 Super Hornet fighters that took off from the aircraft carrier, aerial refueling planes and fighters from several other countries, including Sweden, took part in the operation, Bailey says.
The Estonians, on the other hand, provided an aerial picture.
It's a great example of how even here in the North Sea we can offer support and carry out tasks in the Baltic Sea region, says Bailey.
According to the Air Force, Finnish Hornet fighters also participated in the Neputne Strike flights last week Friday in Estonian airspace and again Wednesday together with the Super Hornets that took off from Harry S. Truman.
Flight operations on the CVN-75 support vessel continued lively even on the day of the media visit. Bailey's interview was interrupted several times, when the fighters preparing to take off from the flight deck one after the other raised their engine power to full and made the conversation impossible even indoors. Landings soon followed.
It is known that Nimitz-class supercarriers have never visited the Baltic Sea, because there has probably not been a particular need for it. Although carriers usually stay away from shores and shallow waters due to their large size, there would not necessarily be an insurmountable physical barrier to sailing through the Danish straits.
Probably not, but honestly I'd have to check that thing on the charts, laughs Harry S. Truman's chief of staff, Commodore Dave Snowden.
"We are here to support NATO and build cooperation capabilities so that we can respond to potential threats as an alliance and not alone," says Commodore Dave Snowden. Photo: Vesa Moilanen / Lehtikuva
According to the Stars and Stripes magazine, which follows the US armed forces, Harry S. Truman would be transferred from the North to a more warlike region in the Middle East in the coming days, but neither Bailey nor Snowden confirm the information.
We are here in the North Sea for the foreseeable future - or at least for this week, Commodore Snowden formulated last Saturday.
Moving to the Middle East would be nothing new for Harry S. Truman, as the ship has participated in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan over the years.
Photo: Vesa Moilanen / Lehtikuva
Both experienced naval officers politely dodge political questions about the consequences of the current international situation or fears that the United States would not be committed to European security in the future. Bailey and Snowden want to leave politics to politicians, but the importance of allies and NATO does not remain unclear in their speeches.
According to Rear Admiral Bailey, the rise of Russian and Chinese aggressiveness only underlines how valuable the existence of a defense alliance like NATO is in the first place.
We are firmly committed to our alliance and maintaining NATO's strength, he says.
That's why, in events like Neptune Strike, the allies' ability to cooperate and the possibility to carry out both defensive and offensive operations are further developed and refined.
We are here to support NATO and build cooperation capabilities so that we can respond to potential threats as an alliance and not alone, says Commodore Snowden.
In addition to the Harry S. Truman, the battle group led by Bailey includes other non-American ships protecting it, such as frigates and missile destroyers.
In the North Sea, another battle group, led by the British Navy's aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales, also participated in the Neptune Strike.
Neptune Strike's operations extend from the north all the way to the Mediterranean and the Adriatic Sea. It includes, among other things, air and sea operations, mine clearance, landings and combating Drones moving in the air and at sea.
Commissioned in 1998, Harry S. Truman left her home port of Norfolk on the US East Coast in September for her last long deployment before the ship's mid-life maintenance. It includes, among other things, the first "refueling", i.e. changing the used fuel of two nuclear reactors to new one. With it, you can sail the world's seas again for the next quarter of a century.
Commodore Snowden describes himself as leading a "city at sea". There are 2,700 people under his direct supervision, but the total number of people on the aircraft carrier, including the flight operations side, rises to about 5,000. There are close to a hundred different types of aircraft, a large part of which are different versions of the Super Hornet, which was also offered as Finland's next fighter model. There are at least as many of them on board as the Air Force combined.
According to Snowden, the operating environment in the North Sea is not easy, for example because it is difficult to predict the weather very far in advance. This was also proven on the day of the journalist group's visit, when strong wind and rain threatened to prevent the return flight to Scotland.
In the end, the conditions calmed down enough that a favorable moment arrived, and the hosts could stop thinking about finding beds for the surprise guests.
The departure from the support ship was at least as violent as the arrival: acceleration from zero to 240 kilometers per hour in 2.5 seconds. The steam rising from the catapult that provided the momentum floated in the cabin of the plane.
Source: Satakunnankansa.fi, NATO JFC Brunssum | NATO Begins NEPTUNE STRIKE 2024-2 (limited access)
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