“CAOC Uedem has been assigned the lead in planning, coordinating, controlling and monitoring the air operations built-in into the BALTOPS train enabling reasonable multi-domain coaching of roughly 7,000 personnel from NATO Allies and Companion nations,” stated Colonel Wilhelm Might, the Train Air Director on the CAOC, who additionally oversaw the air play through the fiftieth version of BALTOPS in 2021.
“This 12 months, we’re controlling the ‘air-heaviest’ BALTOPS situation within the historical past of the train, with a complete of greater than 75 Allied and Companion plane working from sea-based and land-based platforms. We’re planning over 400 sorties which greater than doubles our sorties from final 12 months,” stated Colonel Might. “The missions we’re controlling cowl the entire spectrum from air-maritime, air-air and air-to-ground to anti-submarine, air-to-air refuelling and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance drills. We have now as much as 40 plane airborne in a single 3-hour serial,” he added underlining the complexity of his crew’s activity.
The expansion in plane sorties can also be facilitated by the truth that – for the second time – BALTOPS integrates the German-led Multinational Air Group Days (MAGDAYs) producing extra sorties in help of the joint maritime-led coaching drills. Fighter jets from Germany, Belgium, Turkey, the USA and Companions Finland and Sweden in addition to NATO E-3A and tanker plane are concerned on this coaching occasion throughout the NATO idea of the Multinational Air Group for which German is a framework nation.
“Whereas the MAGDAY integration into BALTOPS means an elevated coordination and integration effort for the maritime and air belongings, it additionally enhances the complexity and high quality of train targets for all contributors,” Colonel Might concluded.
In addition to this recurring activity of controlling air actions throughout multinational workout routines, the CAOC is answerable for NATO Air Policing in central and northern Europe making certain the integrity of NATO’s airspace and contributing to deterrence and protection efforts.
For extra tales like this, please go to Allied Air Command | 2022 (nato.int)
