In a week, the largest air force deployment exercise since the founding of NATO will start over Germany. There are restrictions on civil air traffic, but these should be kept to a minimum.
A week before the major air force exercise “Air Defender 2023”, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius emphasized the importance for the security of Germany and its allies. At the same time, the SPD politician said on the sidelines of a trip to Asia: “Of course we are doing everything we can to keep the effects on the population and civil air traffic as low as possible. We have been coordinating very closely with everyone involved for months.”
From June 12 to June 23, 25 nations and 10,000 soldiers with 250 aircraft, including 70 aircraft from Germany, take part in the “Air Defender” maneuver under German leadership. NATO is involved.
“With “Air Defender 2023″ as the largest air force deployment exercise since NATO was founded, we are strengthening the alliance and transatlantic relations. Together with our allies, we are showing that we can react quickly and effectively to defend the alliance’s territory,” said Pistorius, who is in charge of the Indonesian capital visited Jakarta.
Air forces can be deployed quickly in a crisis due to their range and speed. In particular, the transfer across the Atlantic from the USA with around 100 aircraft shows how reinforcements are brought in. The inspector of the Air Force, Lieutenant General Ingo Gerhartz, presented the concept in the USA in 2018.
Geopolitical Scenario: Battle against the Occasus Alliance
“Scenarios such as combating drones or cruise missiles are being practiced, as well as defending airports and seaports,” said an Air Force spokesman for the dpa. It is trained how a fictitious attack by an eastern attacker (referred to as OCCASUS) on the alliance area – here on Germany – is repulsed by the NATO allies together.
In the scenario, the years of confrontation between NATO and OCCASUS has reached the bottom of the Federal Republic. “Special forces from the Brückner organization and other troops from OCCASUS were able to smuggle into Germany from the east. Air and ground forces are now occupying the entire Klebius region, about a quarter of the country,” writes the Bundeswehr. The OCCASUS alliance is trying to push north towards the Baltic Sea and take possession of the port of Rostock. They use a mixture of sabotage actions and the use of special forces, which are supported from the air. The fictitious consequence: The western alliance triggers the defense case according to article 5 of the NATO treaty.
“Massive effects on the course of civil aviation”
During the two-week operation, three airspaces are to be closed to civil aviation at different times from Monday to Friday. The military exercise can also mix up parts of the civil flight plans.
The federal government has appealed to the states to make operating times at airports more flexible during the exercise. This is primarily aimed at night flight bans. Disruptions to civil air traffic could be significantly alleviated if airlines’ applications for take-offs and landings outside the normal operating hours of the airports were approved by the responsible authorities if the conditions were met, according to a letter from Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) and Pistorius .
According to the Air Force, most flights can take place over the North and Baltic Seas. Despite careful prior arrangements and technical simulations to reduce impairments, effects on civil air traffic are unavoidable, according to the letter from Wissing and Pistorius.
The air traffic control union (GdF) assumes that the exercise will cause restrictions in civil aviation. “The military exercise “Air Defender” will of course have a massive impact on the course of civil aviation,” said GdF boss Matthias Maas.
Simulations by the organization Eurocontrol are said to have shown that for the duration of the large-scale exercise, daily delays of up to 50,000 minutes can be expected, although other factors such as heavy thunderstorms must then be added. The GdF, which represents a large number of controllers and technicians at DFS air traffic control, emphasized that they consider the maneuver necessary in view of the political situation and that it provides NATO with a high level of insight.
Source: Stern
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