A U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor assigned to the 3rd Wing takes off over Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, July 8, 2024. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Julia Lebens)
Arctic Defender, a German Air Forces-led exercise, began July 8 and is scheduled to run through July 18. As part of a monthslong exercise tour in the Indo-Pacific, known as Pacific Skies 24, Arctic Defender is the first stop for the trinational Future Combat Air System of Germany, France and Spain, and is a field training exercise for U.S. and international forces flown under simulated air combat conditions.
Participating aircraft include: the F-16 Fighting Falcon, F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II; the U.S. Marine Corps F/A-18 Hornet; French air and space force Rafale, Airbus A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport and A400M Atlas; German air force A400M Transport, Eurofighter, H145M Special Forces Helicopter, and PA-200 Tornado; Spanish air force Eurofighters; and Royal Canadian Air Force CC-130H Hercules.
With Pacific Skies 24, we as Europeans show our face in a part of the world that is so important to all of us. Together with Spain and France, we are deploying to the Indo-Pacific region and taking part in five different exercises, said Lt. Gen. Ingo Gerhartz, German Air Force service chief.
Approximately 500 multilateral service members are expected to fly, maintain and support more than 60 aircraft from 12 units scheduled to participate, enabling them to exchange tactics, techniques and procedures while improving interoperability with American Airmen from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson and Eielson Air Force Base, and U.S. Marines with Headquarters, Marine Aircraft Group 11, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, and Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 232 (Reinforced), MAG-11, both at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego, California.
The Department of the Air Force is optimizing for Great Power Competition and preparing to win in a conflict should deterrence fail, said Col. Kevin Jamieson, 3rd Wing commander.
Exercises like Arctic Defender are just one way we can integrate with our allies and partners to share tactics, techniques, and procedures in a realistic, simulated combat environment. As we continue to train and operate in the Pacific, the U.S. and our allies and partners will resolve shared challenges by relying on each other’s strengths to collectively evolve airpower – together, we will deter aggression.
The Arctic Defender 2024 exercise is the first of five individual exercises during our Pacific Skies deployment together with our European partners from Spain and France, said Chief of the German air force Lt. Gen. Ingo Gerhartz. Read details - We use the excellent conditions here in Alaska to realistically practice a NATO Article 5 scenario with our jet crews and the entire team. Together with the U.S. and Canadians, this exercise provides us with everything we need to further increase our operational capability.
Additionally, in a first for European Air Transport Command, European Air-to-Air Refueling Training will be conducted outside of Europe in conjunction with Arctic Defender. This event trains tanker crews, planners, taskers and engineers, including maintenance personnel, in air-to-air refueling operations. The training offers a unique opportunity to the nations participating in Arctic Defender and other Pacific Skies exercises to train their tanker and fighter crews in planning and executing missions within a realistic and multinational framework.
I’m looking forward to this premiere edition in Alaska with five tankers from France, the Multinational MRTT Unit and Canada, Mollard said. - It has been a challenge for my team to organize the training more than 7,000 kilometers away from our headquarters in Eindhoven. They did an excellent job, also thanks to the great support from our host, the U.S. Air Force.
Arctic Defender training spans from individual skills to complex, large-scale joint engagements in the more than 77,000 square miles (199,429 square km) of airspace in the Joint Pacific-Alaska Range Complex, which is the largest combat training range in the world. Training in this airspace provides aircrew, maintenance and support personnel training in sustainment of large-force deployed air operations to enhance our capabilities to defend U.S. interests, deter aggression and counter coercion against U.S. territory and its allies and partners.
Sources: Pacific Air Forces (2.7.2024), Pacific Air Forces (10.7.2024)
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