The largest air exercise in its history NATO“Air Defender 2023” will be held in its airspace Germany from 12 to 24 June with the participation of 25 member states of the Alliance, including Greece. Particular importance will be attached to the possibility of an immediate response, and especially in the event of the activation of Article 5 of collective response in the event of an attack on allied territory. Serious problems with commercial flights to and from German airports are expected periodically during the exercise.

AD23 includes 220 aircraft and 10,000 troops from 25 NATO member countries under the command of the German Air Force and will be combined with the German-led MAGDAYS 23 exercise and the NATO RAMSTEIN DUST 23 and RAMSTEIN GUARD 23 exercises. our air force as a rapid reaction force. In addition, we, the Luftwaffe, are showing that we can plan, organize and conduct such large-scale exercises. We take responsibility. The cooperation of 25 countries improves our interoperability and provides a strong deterrent to a potential attacker. The transatlantic dimension – we will have over 100 US National Guard aircraft – is a solid demonstration of NATO cohesion and solidarity,” said Lieutenant General Ingo Gerharts, head of the Luftwaffe, highlighting the importance of Germany as a center for allied defensive operations in Europe.

Air Force of Belgium, Bulgaria, Great Britain, France, Germany, Denmark, Greece, Estonia, USA, Japan, Spain, Italy, Croatia, Latvia, Luxembourg, Norway, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Slovenia, Turkey, Czech Republic and Finland will take part in training scenarios simulating the activation of Article 5, i.e. collective defense of the allied territory. Bases in Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony, Bavaria, Rhineland-Palatinate, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic will be used as hubs, and exercises will take place in German airspace as well as in the Baltic and Romania, with ‘out-and-back’ flights . Operations will last between two and four hours a day, during which civilian flights are prohibited for security reasons. The exercises will not take place at night and on weekends.

On the eve of the exercise, the first fighter jets have already arrived in Germany. Greek F-16s stationed at Lechfeld, Bavaria, along with American A-10s.

^{Source: APE-MEB}