NATO press release
On Thursday August 13, Allied ships and aircraft conducted air-maritime integration training in the Baltic Sea seizing an opportunity to enhance their interoperability and networking skills and test their tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs).
On their way to a port visit in Riga, the SNMG1 ship HMCS Toronto and the NRP Corte Real sailed into the Baltic Sea where they conducted air defence training with NATO air forces. SNMG1 is a very high readiness group of ships , which patrols the waters of northern Europe from the Baltic to the Atlantic. A NATO AWACS aircraft was on-station to provide surveillance of the ships’ movement as Spanish F-18 and French Mirage 2000-5 fighter jets conducted an overflight of the ships. The Spanish and French fighters are with NATO’s Baltic Air Policing mission and conducted the air-maritime interoperability activity as a training event. NATO AWACS aircraft and NATO Control and Reporting Centres in the Baltic region controlled the multi-national activity proving connectivity and communications links.
“Close coordination between AIRCOM and MARCOM brought together this great interoperability and integration training,” said Allied Air Command Deputy Chief of Staff Operations, US Brigadier General Andrew Hansen, who oversaw the air-maritime integration activities at the Operations Centre in Ramstein.
“We demonstrated NATO’s responsiveness, the increasing interconnectivity between our airmen and sailors and our ability to operate under combined and joint TTPs. This event has been a fantastic demonstration of our multi-domain capabilities in support of effective NATO deterrence and defence and underscored Air Power flexibility in identifying and committing enablers quickly and effectively,”
General Hansen
“NATO’s purpose is to safeguard the freedom and security of all member nations. Frequent military planning, training and exercising ensures NATO remains fully prepared to undertake any mission required to provide the collective defense for which the Alliance is solely designed,” said German Navy Rear Admiral Hans-Jörg Detlefsen, Commander Maritime Air, the senior officer overseeing the activities at Allied Maritime Command.
“In this regard; I can say that was great to see our ships and maritime air forces working well synchronized with Allied air force assets,” Admiral Detlefsen added.