Photos: NATO Wraps Up First-Ever ‘Ramstein Flag’ Exercise in Greece

To the likes of Red Flag, Green Flag, and Black Flag, now you can add Ramstein Flag. 

NATO Allied Air Command wrapped up its first ever “Flag” event at Andravida Air Base, Greece, last week, after more than 130 fighters and other aircraft from 12 countries took part in a large-scale, live-fly, first-of-its-kind European exercise. 

From Sept. 30 to Oct. 11, NATO fighters conducted around 1,100 sorties, primarily focused on counter anti-access/area denial and integrated air and missile defense missions, according to a release from U.S. Air Forces in Europe. Among the participants: USAF F-35 fighters from RAF Lakenheath, U.K., and KC-135 tankers from RAF Mildenhall, U.K.  

The U.S. Air Force hosted its first Red Flag exercise at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., in 1975—49 years ago— with the goal to “train as you fight,” using large-scale, realistic environments and adversaries to help hone Airmen’s aerial combat skills. 

Over the years, the concept expanded around the world, with Pacific Air Forces hosts Red Flag-Alaska exercises multiple times per year. NATO and its members regularly conduct air exercises, but Ramstein Flag took things up a notch, designing the exercise “to provide realistic combat settings,” according to a NATO Allied Command release.

“Ramstein Flag signifies the future of NATO exercises, focusing on current and future threats,” said Gen. James B. Hecker, head of USAFE and NATO Allied Air Command. 

In addition to the U.S., the exercise included participants from Canada, Hungary, Poland, Romania, United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, France, Portugal, Greece, and Sweden. Fighters included F-35s, F-16s, Gripens, Eurofighter Typhoons, F-4E Phantoms, and Dassault Rafales. 

Ramstein Flag will now become a “routine” event—the next one is already scheduled for spring 2025, a USAFE spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine. Whether that event will also focus on counter-A2/AD and IAMD is not yet clear, but Hecker has said he considers both missions crucial, drawing upon lessons learned from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, where neither side has been able to obtain air superiority, leading to a brutal war of attrition.  

Both the U.S. Air Force and NATO are investing more in large-scale, realistic exercises . USAF made building up such events part of its “re-optimization” for great power competition initiative, with the intent to practice “complex, large-scale military operations.” But allies are also in on the push. Last summer’s German-led Air Defender 2023 was the largest air exercise in NATO’s history, and this summer, NATO held its first ever one-on-one fighter competition at Ramstein.