For decades large international exercises have been held at Leeuwarden airbase in the North of The Netherlands, from Diatit in the early nineties to most recent Frisian Flag. So far nothing new. But this year for the first time the exercise was not initiated by the Royal Netherlands Air Force, but by NATO.
And that wasn’t the only difference, this time a large part of the participating forces operated from other airbases. That also meant less aircraft operated from Leeuwarden AB than in previous years. Air battle manager major Marcel Burgers explains: “This was partly done because we fly until late in the evening. But it is also much more realistic. If it is for real, you won’t all be operating from the same airbase either, with all challenges regarding communications and such.”
The initiative for the exercise, that was held from March 31 to April 11, came from AirCom, NATO Air Command based at Ramstein AB in Germany, hence the name Ramstein Flag. The Netherlands volunteered to organise the exercise, with Leeuwarden as main base. For two weeks Finnish F/A-18 Hornets, German EF2000 Typhoons, Greek F-16s, Swedish JAS-39 Gripens and American and Dutch F-35s called Leeuwarden home.
Other aircraft operated from Eindhoven (Dutch A.330MRTTs and a Canadian CC-150 Polaris), Skrydstrup in Denmark (Danish F-35s, Hungarian JAS-39 Gripens and Italian EF.2000s, F-35s and a G.550 Command and Control aircraft) and Coningsby and Lossiemouth (British Typhoons), Marham (Spanish F/A-18 Hornets) and Fairford (Romanian and Turkish F-16s and KC-135 Stratotanker) in the United Kingdom. E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft from NATO and France, operating from their respective home bases, supported the Dutch Air Operations Control Station at Nieuw Milligen. Finally Dutch naval frigate HNLMS Tromp participated with their NH.90 helicopter.
Because of the increasing Russian threat, NATO AirCom felt the need to have the NATO air forces train together more and better. Hence another Flag exercise was born. The scenario was based on the well-known article 5: an attack on one member is an attack on all members. Lieutenant-colonel Willy van Kampen was so-called officer primary responsibility of AirCom Exercise Division in Ramstein.
He explained: “The Commander AirCom gave us a clear instruction for this edition: as realistic as possible. Hence this second edition of Ramstein Flag was held at multiple airbases in multiple countries. Communication lines are therefore essential for proper mission planning, briefing and debriefing.” Secure video links were used to accomplish this, and to good effect according to Van Kampen. He continued: “We don’t have the numbers and the means anymore that we used to have. That luxury is gone. Next to that we have switched from ‘wars of choice’ like in Afghanistan and Iraq to ‘wars of necessity’: only one and a half hours flying from here a war is going on. We have to be able to defend our own territory.”
Where air forces indeed are smaller than they used to be, NATO has recently grown with the membership of Finland in 2023 and even more recent Sweden that joined last year. Both countries have participated in large exercises at Leeuwarden before, but for Sweden this was the very first exercise they joined as NATO member. Former display pilot Patrik Lange of F7 Wing based at Såtenäs flies the JAS.39C Gripen.
“Our main target is to continue our NATO integration process, with large focus on planning, executing and debriefing large-scale air operations. Furthermore, we can gain experience in being part of a larger force and flying in unfamiliar airspace with other pilots who do not speak Swedish. Also, deployment in another country in Europe offers a lot of good experiences, especially for our younger pilots.” A nice bonus for the Swedish detachment was the change from the harsh Swedish winter to the nice spring conditions in central Europe.
Fond as the military world is of acronyms, RAFL25 focused on enhancing capabilities in Counter Anti-Access/Area Denial (C-A2/AD), Integrated Air and Missile Defence (IAMD), Agile Combat Employment (ACE), and information sharing among participating Allies.
Scenarios were based on earlier exercises, but not surprisingly also lessons from the recent war in the Ukraine were taken into account. In total just over 1,800 sorties were flown by 90+ aircraft. Not only did the different air forces operate alongside in the air, also cross-servicing was done on the ground, adding to the realistic level of the exercise. Finally missiles based on land and sea were involved as well to assist in air defence.
An exercise like Ramstein Flag can never replace reality, but it is the best way to prepare both experienced pilots and young wingmen for a large-scale (air) war.
General James Hecker, commander of NATO Allied Air Command, described it fittingly: “We are here practicing today to ensure that if we need to gain air superiority, we have the capability to do it.” Based on the results of the exercise this is surely the case, confirming NATO is prepared to respond decisively to any challenge, in any location, at any time.
A big thank you to the Royal Netherlands Air Force for providing additional photographs.
This article was also published in Aviation News Magazine.