NATO, Japan Begin Massive Air Force Drills

Facts

• On Monday, more than 250 aircraft and 10K military personnel from NATO countries and Japan began a two-week military exercise in Germany — the largest deployment of aircraft in the alliance’s history.¹
• Over 20 partner countries will participate in the exercise, which will be held at four locations in Germany, as well as one location each in the Netherlands and the Czech Republic.²
• The exercise — which Germany has planned since 2018 — is based on an "Article 5 scenario," in which NATO ally militaries deploy air forces to Germany to fight against occupation forces from a fictional enemy.³
• Exercise Air Defender, which is set to take place June 12-23, aims to show a united front in Europe as Russia’s war in Ukraine stretches into its second year.⁴
• About half the assets in the exercise will belong to the US Air National Guard, which is dispatching units from 46 wings across the country — the guard’s biggest transatlantic deployment since the Gulf War.⁴
• Germany’s military has cautioned that the large exercise will have an impact on civilian airline traffic in Europe.²

Sources: ¹New York Times, ²Defence Blog, ³Ac.Nato.Int, and ⁴Air Force Times.

Narratives

• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Defence Blog. The threat of Russia attacking NATO territories is possible, and it’s important these nations prepare. Although this exercise was planned long before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it’s perfectly timed so that allies like Japan and Sweden can join the drills to prepare for defending against an attack on their territories.
• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by World Socialist Web Site. The scale and size of this exercise prove that this isn’t a routine practice for a hypothetical scenario where a NATO country is attacked in the future. This is preparation for further offensive actions by NATO in its war against Russia.

Predictions