North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Allied Air Command
April 23, 2015
20th Baltic Region Training Event a success for NATO Allies and Partners
RAMSTEIN, Germany: Ten NATO Allies and two Partner nations took part in the 20th Baltic Region Training Event (BRTE 20), which was held on 21 and 22 April 2015.
The event included flying assets, air command and control centres and Forward Air Controllers (FACs), including a NATO Airborne Early Warning (AEW) platform. NATO Allies Belgium, Germany, Spain, Italy, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, the United States, as well as, partners Finland and Sweden took part.
Most of the training took place invisible from the ground up in Baltic air space. Fighter aircraft conducted intercept and air-to-air training as well as air-to-air-refuelling with United States and German tanker aircraft. NATO AEW and Control and Reporting Centre Karmelava, Lithuania, ensured control of the training event that was overseen by Combined Air Operations Centre (CAOC) Uedem, Germany and organised by Allied Air Command (AIRCOM) at Ramstein, Germany.
The Latvian training range at Adazi east of the capital Riga was the venue for Close Air Support (CAS) training of Allied FACs who coordinated and controlled CAS missions of Norwegian and Swedish fighter aircraft during realistic simulated scenarios.
“Headquarters AIRCOM began organising the BRTE series in 2008. These two-day training events have been a long-standing routine for the headquarters and CAOC Uedem helping to further cooperation and interoperability in the Baltic Region,” says Greek Air Force Major Dimitrios Koukaras, the BRTE project officer at AIRCOM. “This time we have successfully brought together Allied and Partner aircraft to train tactics, techniques and procedures such as CAS, air-to-air-refuelling, Dissimilar Air Combat Training, and Search and Rescue. I am very pleased with the outcome. We were able to achieve our training objectives and I look forward to the continuation of the BRTE series in early June at Ämari Air Base, Estonia.”
Story by HQ AIRCOM Public Affairs Office
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