The Air Defender 23 maneuvers, hosted by Germany and continuing until June 23, see the participation of 10,000 soldiers and 250 military aircraft from 25 NATO member states and partners, including Japan and Sweden, candidate to NATO membership.
“The Air Defender maneuver is necessary because we live in a more dangerous world, and therefore we are united to keep our countries and our people safe,” NATO spokeswoman Oana Lunescu said.
Lungescu revealed, in statements released by the official NATO website, that the maneuver shows the strong interdependence between Europe and North America, as had been planned for several years, and helps to ensure the training of NATO air forces and their readiness to respond jointly.
Most of the aircraft are stationed at several German airbases, with early exercises taking place over the North Sea, the Baltic Sea and southern Germany.
The exercises aim to strengthen interoperability and readiness to protect against aircraft, drone and missile attacks on cities and infrastructure, with other training activities including support to ground forces and missions evacuation.
The main purpose of the “Air Defender 23”
The Director of Strategy and Armaments at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies and former NATO official William Alberki said in statements to ‘Sky News Arabia’ that drills of this magnitude have often an internal message and another external. , as following:
- The internal message is to keep allies safe, and the external message is to deter Russia. Such a large-scale joint exercise demonstrates the interoperability of allies, including the ability to fly together, communicate, defend, destroy targets, and so on.
- It is difficult for the aircraft of many armies to communicate, coordinate, plan, rehearse and carry out an operation of such magnitude, so the current maneuver shows Russia that it really has to care about the accumulated capacity of the entire NATO alliance, not just the United States, or a small group of countries, but 31 allies plus other high-capacity partners like Sweden, Japan and Australia .
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p class=””>What is the Russian position on the maneuver?
Regarding the Russian position on the maneuver, Oleg Ignatov, senior analyst for Russian affairs at the International Crisis Group, residing in Moscow, explained in statements to Sky News Arabia that President Vladimir Putin and the Russian military consider “everything what NATO does as a threat, but as a strategic threat, not an immediate one.”
Ignatov made a number of points regarding the importance of the maneuvers for Russia, saying: “I think that Russia and NATO are not interested at this time in sending other messages that could be perceived by the other side as a direct threat and, therefore, should demand some sort of response.” immediate military.
He added: “I think these exercises are part of the big changes that are happening in NATO’s approach to security in Europe, with more troop deployments and exercises, and more investment in training and modernization of weapons”.
Is this a dangerous escalation?
US expert in security and strategic affairs, Irina Zuckerman, said in statements to “Sky News Arabia” that the maneuver, although it comes “in response to the Russian war in Ukraine as well as threats China,” does not represent an escalation of NATO’s position, adding, “The maneuver is intended to demonstrate unity and strength as well as a deterrent against any possible escalation against NATO members.”
She explained that “Germany welcomes the maneuver despite internal differences over German investments in Russia, and therefore symbolically aims to send a strong message to Moscow.”
She stressed that such exercises are “to some extent expected given that NATO is a joint defense organization and joint training is a normal and predictable part.”
Zuckerman concluded: “NATO was not directly involved in the war in Ukraine, so such an exercise cannot be considered an escalation of military actions. Russia and its allies cannot use it as a pretext to intensify their own activities. member is attacked directly and deliberately Such exercises do not constitute an escalation measure.
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