NATO Air Force Photos and Video

[Kusch]

5th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron load crews load a AGM-86B air-cruise launch missile trainer onto a B-52H Stratofortess at Minot Air Force Base, N.D., Feb. 26, 2014. As part of Air Force Global Strike Command, load crews work endlessly to preserve our nation’s security by providing combat-ready forces for nuclear deterrence and global strike operations. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Aaron D. Allmon II)

 

 

 

U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles and Hellenic air force F-16s flew a combined 270 missions during two weeks of NATO training at Souda Air Base, Greece. The 494th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron departed Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England, Feb. 13, to work alongside the pilots of the HAF's 343rd Squadron at the 115th Combat Wing on the Greek island of Crete.

 

 

Edited April 3, 2014 by Kusch

[Kusch]

USAF F-15 fighters in Lithuania, Zokniai AFB. In total 10 fighters and 2 KC-135 have been deployed due to recent Russian military activities in Crimea and over the Baltics.

 

[Scrim]

Nothing screams air-power as much as a BUFF :D

[Vekkinho]

US fighter jets in Poland and Lithuania

 

 

US deploys fighter jets to Poland, Lithuania

(AFP)

 

Warsaw — The United States is sending a dozen F-16 fighter jets to Poland as a part of a training exercise, amid continuing tensions between Ukraine and Russia, the Polish defence ministry said on Sunday.

Three hundred US service personnel will also be sent to Poland as part of the exercise. The deployment will be completed by Thursday.

Chuck Hagel, the US Secretary of State for Defence, and his Polish counterpart Tomasz Siemoniak agreed the deployment during a phone call, according to a statement from the Polish ministry.

"The unit will be composed of 12 F-16 planes and will transport 300 soldiers," defence ministry spokesman Jacek Sonta told AFP.

The fighters had been sent following a request from Poland.

The exercise was originally planned to be smaller but was increased and pushed forward because of the "tense political situation" in Ukraine, added Sonta.

The deployment in Poland comes after Washington announced it was also sending four F-15 planes to Lithuania to strengthen surveillance in the airspace around the Baltic.

According to Lithuania's defence ministry, the deployment was in response to "Russian aggression in Ukraine and increased military activity in Kaliningrad," the Russian exclave which borders Poland and Lithuania.

While, Poland has 48 of its own F-16 fighter jets, the Baltic states do not have sufficient air resources and look to NATO to provide protection for its airspace.

[Kusch]

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO will start AWACS reconnaissance flights over Poland and Romania to help monitor the crisis in Ukraine, the alliance said on Monday.

NATO ambassadors, acting on a recommendation from the alliance's top military commander U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, gave the go-ahead to the flights on Monday, a NATO spokesman said.

 

[schroedi]

How old is the last picture (with the E-3 in 25 years NATO AWACS celebration colours)

I ask because in 2007 I was in Geilenkirchen during that celebration and I am wondering if this plane is still flying with that special paint scheme.

Edited March 10, 2014 by schroedi

[joey45]

Probably not....

[GhostDog]

BBC: Nato jets to monitor Ukraine border

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26521311

[Pilotasso]

It is relevant to say that the aircraft are stationed in Poland and will never leave NATO airspace. The situation is artificially "alarming" only because the buffer zone provided by independent Ukraine is gone. They're gonna rub shoulders from now on.

[RIPTIDE]

It is relevant to say that the aircraft are stationed in Poland and will never leave NATO airspace. The situation is artificially "alarming" only because the buffer zone provided by independent Ukraine is gone. They're gonna rub shoulders from now on.

With Belarus already integrated into the CSTO/Union State defence I would have though shoulders were being rubbed for quite a while. Not to mention the NATO patrols over the Baltic States.

[4c Hajduk Veljko]

Perfect time for updating RWR-s databases. :)

[RIPTIDE]

Ah but LPR/I radars, Hajduk.

[Pilotasso]

Don't they use training modes to avoid others from gathering ELINT?

[4c Hajduk Veljko]

Ah but LPR/I radars, Hajduk.

Sure, those as well. If we can see a radio wave that's millions if not billions of light years away, I am sure, LPR/I radio waves can be detected a well. BTW, L stands for "Low", therefore it is visible, but has low visibility. Perfect opportunity for gathering frequencies.

[4c Hajduk Veljko]

Don't they use training modes to avoid others from gathering ELINT?

So, they are flying blind? They could do that before Crimea crisis.

[EtherealN]

So, they are flying blind? They could do that before Crimea crisis.

 

No, but they don't use the "real deal" either. Scanning and tracking are different things though. What i suspect they would restrict is track and some stuff in fire control. (For example, in the JA37 there were weapon guidance modes the drivers were disallowed to use unless in a state of war or specifically arranged exercise, precisely becauee they did not want russian ELINT to be looking at them. So even when locking fire control systems on interlopers (both NATO and not) they would not be showing what they would really be using if it came to a shooting war.

[Pilotasso]

This^^^^

[Scrim]

Yep, people probably learned from the Gulf War. From rather early on, the Coalition would frequently scramble very large, real deal looking strike packages, complete with U-2 spy planes and tankers, and everything in between, and take it pretty much right to the border before turning back. Aside from keeping the Iraqis in the dark and surprise them the day they didn't turn back, it also allowed them to pick up a tonne of ELINT regarding the Iraqi AA net, which went from being damn near state of the art, WP with French improvements, to being nothing short of firing AAA blindly up into the sky when bombs started going of, and sending SAMs blindly with a very brief radar guidance when it was estimated that the missile was close to where Coalition aircraft could be, to avoid getting locked on by a Wild Weasel and ending up on the receiving end of a HARM missile.

Edited March 11, 2014 by Scrim

[joey45]

..... Aside from keeping the Iraqis in the dark and surprise them the day they didn't turn back, it also allowed them to pick up a tonne of ELINT regarding the Iraqi AA net.

 

Deception......

[Scrim]

Eh?

[EtherealN]

Svrim, my example was 70s to 90s. I highly doubt anyone learned lessons from the 2nd gulf war before it even happened. :-)

[Scrim]

I was talking about the Gulf War, i.e. the first Gulf War, not OIF.

[EtherealN]

There was no "coalition" in the first gulf war. The first gulf war was a brutal, decade long affair, between Iraq and Iran. The second gulf war was a short thing afterwards, but it did get some CNN... ;)

[Scrim]

No, that was the Iran-Iraq war. Don't really matter if you've misunderstood the Gulf War name, or feel like being smart by pointing out that there'd already been at least one war in the region before the Gulf War.

[EtherealN]

What i am pointing out is that "the gulf war" means something else to a lot of people internationally. What you call "the gulf war" can also be called "UN police action against the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait".

 

That is less relevant though. My point is that everyone already knew to think about this many decades before Operation Desert Storm. Sweden played that ELINT game with the Soviets in the 50s, pretty much on contract for the USA, and the Soviets did the samr thing back. It is as old as radar itself.