A quartet of F-16 fighters and approximately 100 Airmen from Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, arrived in Keflavik, Iceland, on Oct. 22 to take over the NATO Air Policing mission in the country—the first deployment of U.S. Air Force fighters to Iceland in two years.
Four U.S. Air Force bombers are deploying to Europe as part of a reassurance mission for America's NATO allies. It did not take long for Russia to take note. Two B-1B Lancer bombers “were operating in international airspace in the Baltic Sea region alongside NATO allies ...
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has proven that air superiority is vital to success in conflict, Gen. James B. Hecker, the top U.S. Air Force commander in Europe, said March 22. In a Mitchell Institute event, Hecker argued that if Russia had gained air superiority early ...
SPANGDAHLEM AIR BASE, Germany—Not long ago, Spangdahlem Air Base in western Germany felt like a quiet retreat, surrounded by verdant hilltops with tiny church steeples in the distance. That all changed when Russia attacked Ukraine and threatened the NATO alliance. Nearby Ramstein Air Base could ...
LASK AIR BASE, Poland—Marine Corps F/A-18 Hornets had no sooner finished a six-week deployment in the Arctic before a real-world contingency required them to redeploy to NATO's eastern flank. The Marine Corps rarely conducts NATO Air Policing. But in the total force muscle flex triggered ...
MIHAIL KOGALNICEANU AIR BASE, Romania—NATO jets scrambled from this Romanian base four times in the last 20 days to intercept Russian fighters that launched from Crimea, flying toward NATO territory along the Black Sea coast. Each time, the Russian jets turned away without incident, but ...
The Defense Department is moving roughly 3,000 Soldiers to Germany, Poland, and Romania in the coming days, Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby announced Feb. 2. The U.S. looks to bolster NATO’s eastern flank while Russia continues its buildup of forces on the Ukraine border. ...
Half a dozen U.S. Air Force F-15Es landed in Estonia on Jan. 26 to aid NATO’s enhanced air policing mission, as tensions in Eastern Europe continue to simmer over a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine. While in Estonia, the American fighters will integrate with a ...
F-15s from the 493rd Fighter Squadron at RAF Lakenheath, England, have deployed to Iceland to take up the NATO Air Policing mission there for the second time in less than a year. The three F-15C/Ds, plus an F-15E from the 493rd’s sister unit, the 494th ...
For the next four weeks, USAF Airmen and F-16s and Bulgarian air force fighter aircraft will fly NATO air patrols over Bulgaria to protect the nation’s airspace, improve the Air Force’s interoperability with its counterparts there, and serve as a show “of Allied solidarity,” NATO ...