RAMSTEIN, Germany- The computer-assisted exercise Kalkar Sky is a first building block for the German Air Force preparation process enabling a Joint Force Air Component and Command to lead Allied air force contributing to NATO's Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF) in 2023.
We are working within a complex and intensive scenario which requires our staff to be fully focused.
"We are working within a complex and intensive scenario which requires our staff to be fully focused. We are making very good progress and the team are getting excellent training to take up their role. The international instructors are doing a great job preparing us for the upcoming missions and tasks as NATO's spearhead force," said Lieutenant General Thorsten Poschwatta, Commander of the German Air Operations Centre, who will lead the German JFAC during the preparation and standby-phase until the end of 2023.
Busy times for the multinational team involved in Kalkar Sky 2022, Photo by: Alexander Feja
Operation center from Kalkar Sky in a tent 24/7 operational. Photo by: Christian Timming
Running in Germany's northwest near the border to the Netherlands, Kalkar Sky brings together 400 participants from eleven NATO Allies and stands up a Joint Force Air Component (JFAC) Command for two weeks. A fictitious training scenario enables the international team of air command and control specialists headed by the German Air Force to exercise the tactics, techniques and procedures required to deliver effective and efficient Air and Space power to the operations of an Allied Joint Task Force.
The exercise takes place from January 31 to February 11 and simulates the air command and control processes that the members of the German JFAC will apply during follow-on NATO exercises. The German JFAC is scheduled to certify this fall together with sister land, maritime and Special Forces commands to take place in VJTF 23.
This training exercise and certification process checked by an international assessment team is a rolling system within NATO that takes place every year. This provides NATO with prepared joint forces ready at short notice for a deployment wherever needed, as part of the NATO spearhead.
The sun may be down, but the exercise Kalkar Sky continues. Photo by: Christian Timmig