NATO wrapped up its inaugural Ramstein Flag exercise, a large-scale, multidomain training event designed to enhance the Alliance’s combat readiness and interoperability. The exercise, held September 30 to October 11, 2024, comprised more than 130 aircraft and personnel from 12 NATO nations, marking a significant milestone in NATO’s efforts to counter emerging threats and deter aggression by regional adversaries.
Hosted at Andravida Air Base in Greece, Ramstein Flag focused on countering anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) capabilities and integrated air and missile defense (IAMD).
Participating nations included Canada, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. The exercise featured F-35 Lightning IIs, F-16 Fighting Falcons, Eurofighter Typhoons and Dassault Rafales aircraft.
The exercise aimed to enhance NATO’s ability to conduct joint operations in contested environments and to demonstrate the Alliance’s resolve and capability to deter potential adversaries. “This exercise has tested our limits, pushed our capabilities, and reinforced our interoperability,” said Lt. Gen. Dimosthenis Grigoriadis, chief of the Hellenic (Greek) Air Force General Staff. “Ramstein Flag 2024 has shown that we are ready to face these challenges, prepared to operate in contested and complex environments and capable of maintaining the peace and security of the Euro Atlantic region.”
Ramstein Flag 2024 also provided a platform for NATO to integrate land, sea, air and cyber assets in a realistic combat setting. Daily missions included finding and eliminating simulated targets, demonstrating integrated air and missile defense capabilities and honing counter-A2/AD tactics.
The exercise’s success was underscored by the completion of multiple flight sorties, showcasing the Alliance’s ability to operate seamlessly across multiple domains. “Over the last two weeks, we’ve had over 100 aircraft flying from eleven different locations; over 1,100 sorties that have been flown. It has been a tremendous effort to make this happen,” said Gen. James Hecker, commander, U.S. Air Forces in Europe; commander, U.S. Air Forces Africa; commander, Allied Air Command..
In addition to the air operations, the exercise included a tactical air control party unit from the 435th Air Ground Operations Wing and members from the 19th Electronic Warfare Squadron, providing simulated and realistic threat-to-air operations.
The exercise concluded with a debrief session, where participants shared lessons learned and discussed ways to improve future exercises. “This is where the real learning happens,” said Shamsher Mann, a retired lieutenant colonel now working for a private contract company tasked with transferring knowledge from flag exercises to new exercise scenarios for future flag events.
“Ramstein Flag signifies the future of NATO exercises, focusing on current and future threats,” Hecker noted. “Now I can truly say that we’re ready to go, and being ready to go means hopefully we deter any of our adversaries or enemies from trying to strike against NATO because that’s why we do these things.”