by ZeroHedge News Staff at ZeroHedge
Germany is playing host to what NATO is touting as the largest air drills in the alliance’s history, which has been four years in preparation.
Dubbed Air Defender 23, the drills kicked off on Monday and will go to June 23, and involve up to 250 aircraft engaging in operations launched from across six military bases. In total, 25 countries are taking part, with the United States sending 100 of its aircraft across the Atlantic for the major exercise.
Large swathes of airspace over parts of Germany will be intermittently closed to civilian aviation while the drills persist, to include the northern German area above the North Sea, a small strip in southern Germany, as well as in the east.
A NATO official told a German publication this this huge show of force is about deterrence…
“Of course, this sends a clear signal, saying that even though this airspace is extremely busy, they are prepared to say, ‘we will defend every centimeter of NATO territory,” he told DW.
Missions are expected to be flown to and from Romania and Estonia as well, with ground drills also ensuing.
Deutsche Welle summarizes other aspects of the Air Defender 23 exercises as follows:…
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