Three fighter jets and three pilots already proven in NATO missions will fly by Spain in the Air Defender 2023 maneuverswhich the Atlantic Alliance activates this Monday in what will be the largest air military exercise in its history.
Defense will contribute three Eurofighter Typhoon fighters from Ala 14 of the Air and Space Army (EAE) to be combined in the same air command with another 30 similar fighters that the German Luftwaffe will deploy. The maneuvers will be carried out, for the most part, in German airspace and will last until June 23. A total of 200 aircraft will be mobilized by NATO for the exercise. One hundred of these aircraft are a North American contribution and 46 will be German army fighters.
The three fighters provided by Spain will form part of a fictitious air group of NATO interception before the attack received by one of its allies. The Spanish aircraft will participate in the test for four days, between the next 12 and 16.
The most modern
The Spanish contribution to these manoeuvres, the largest deterrent message sent by NATO to Russia this year, it consists of three of its most modern and powerful combat aircraft, and the most operational unit in the EAE. In wing 14, based in Los Llanos (Albacete), the elite of Spanish military pilots operate. But human entourage that will accompany these fighters is, according to sources from the Air Force, “the minimum necessary to support the deployment.”
The organization of the Air Defender 2023 maneuvers has accommodated the logistical support needs of the ships sent to Germany for this drill. Are 22 participating countries And, since the ability to assist different aircraft from different nations in a non-airtight manner is also being tested, almost all of the added work on the ground will be performed by Luftwaffe professionals.
The same unit that Spain sends to Air Defender 23 was deployed in the Ámbar Tactical Air Detachment, at the Ämari airbase in Estonia in the summer of 2022, in a job -in this case no drills- surveillance of Russian flights not properly identified. They were the labors of the Baltic Air Police mission (BAP) of NATO.
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In Estonian airspace, Spanish Eurofighters flew in tandem with German Eurofighters, in QRA, or quick reaction services. In that surveillance they were armed with air-to-air missiles for possible interceptions of hostile aircraft.
At first, Defense planned to send two fighters and keep one in reserve, but decided to expand to three at the request of NATOin the final phase of the organization of the maneuvers.