From Monday, March 28, 2022 until Friday, April 8, 2022 was Leeuwarden Air Base in the Netherlands the hub of the major NATO exercise Frisian Flag. In recent years, this annual meeting of various air forces was cancelled. Of course this had to do with the corona pandemic.
Over the two-week period, participants from France, Canada, Italy, the Netherlands and the United States, alongside NATO Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft, will enhance operational capability during the live-fly air combat training event. Thirty fighters and support aircraft will take to the skies daily as part of complex training missions with scenarios based around high-intensity warfare.
Frisian Flag offers us and our allies unique opportunities to practice. Leeuwarden Air Base is very conveniently located in relation to (combined) practice areas in the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark. In addition, Leeuwarden Air Base has the knowledge, skills and experience to organize large-scale training.
The joint exercise is intended to teach pilots how to work together in the face of threatening situations that are being countered internationally. According to the Ministry of Defense, there will be no more training than usual now that there is war in Ukraine.
Frisian Flag is supported on the ground by Joint Terminal Attack Controllers (JTAC) of the Royal Netherlands Army and the Marine Corps.
The current situation on the eastern border of NATO territory brought about by Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine makes exercises like this more relevant than ever, improving interoperability and building a stronger and even more interoperable Alliance.
Photos Rob Vogelaar
