ŠIUALIAI, Lithuania – From June 25-27 Exercise Ramstein Alloy 19-2 brought together fighter jets of eight NATO countries and two partner nations to Šiauliai Air Base in Lithuania. During the two-day exercise, aircrew and ground control personnel exercised air policing drills and interoperability.
The Ramstein Alloy series has been successfully conducted for over 10 years and is hosted three times annually in a different Baltic state. Fighter jets of the three Baltic Air Policing detachments from the UK, Spain and Hungary, currently based in Lithuania and Estonia, flew alongside jets from Norway and Poland, as well as NATO partner nations Finland and Sweden. Estonia, Latvia and host nation Lithuania also contribute to the exercise with command and control personnel.
"Exercise Ramstein Alloy is a great opportunity to practice routine procedures, furthermore enhance cooperation and interoperability among NATO and partner air forces. It also demonstrates the commitment and dedication of participating nations” said Brigadier General Csaba Ugrik, commander of the Hungarian Air Policing detachment at Šiauliai Air Base.
A scenario which took place on the first day of the exercise was the intercept of an aircraft that lost communication with ground control. This real world scenario often requires NATO alert aircraft to launch and investigate the situation and or sometimes assist. In the training scenario a Lithuanian C-27 Spartan aircraft simulated a loss of communication between Estonian and Finnish air base, Royal Air Force Eurofighters from Amari Air Base in Estonia were launched to investigate. Other scenarios trained during the two day exercise are command and control procedures, air to air combat training, as well as a search and rescue exercise.
Air policing is a routine peacetime mission conducted all over NATO to ensure the integrity, safety and security of the Alliance. For countries that do not have their own air policing capability, like the three Baltic states, other allies step in to secure the skies over the region on a rotational basis. As NATO’s Baltic Ari Policing mission brings together several Allies during three rotations per year, the Ramstein Alloy Exercise series provides a recurring opportunity to train essential interoperability and maintain vital standards. All exercises of the series are panned and conducted by NATO’s Allied Air Command, the same entity that oversees all Air Policing over European NATO nations.
Story by Allied Air Command Public Affairs Office