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Exercise strengthens partnerships, tactical capabilities

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Dillon Davis
  • 52nd Fighter Wing Public Affairs
KALLAX AIR BASE, Sweden --  Nordic Air Meet 2012 was a two-week joint-training exercise that allowed pilots, maintainers, operations and support service members the opportunity to put their skills to the test.

The organizations in attendance included the United States, Great Britain, Denmark, Finland, Switzerland and Sweden.

"The overall goal of the mission is to increase interoperability between neutral and allied NATO countries", said Swedish air force Lt. Col. Carl-Johan Edström, Norrbotten Wing commander and exercise director.

Sweden hosted the aircraft from three separate locations including a base in Finland.

The 480th Fighter Squadron brought 10 F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft and more than 240 members to participate and support the squadron while at the same time building and maintaining partnerships with foreign nations.

The interaction here also helps to build trust among nations and can positively affect future mission success by creating a base on which to plan and execute joint missions, Edström said.

"The exercise has been outstanding in the sense that all of the 480th FS pilots (and support members) have given their all during each and every mission, and we are finding more and more in common with the other participating countries," said Capt. Jason Ulibarri, 480th FS pilot and chief of training.

After each flying mission, the pilots sit down in a debrief and go over, second by second, what happened during the flight, and it gives each pilot feedback on what, when and why things may have gone well or not, Ulibarri said.

Many of the countries that participated in this exercise alongside the 480th will also be at the advanced aerial combat training exercise, known as Red Flag, this winter, so the training here and now will allow each country to improve their tactics and strategic planning ahead of time, said Lt. Col. Cameron Caroom, 480th FS commander.

"All in all, I am more than proud of my team, because they have gone above and beyond their job description by allowing the flight of more than 150 sorties in just the past two weeks -- which is about five times the amount of flights we run at our home station," he said.

The purpose of the exercise was to provide a realistic scenario-based training environment to systematically test and evaluate aircraft combat readiness status and manage tactical training progress. The goal of this type of training is foster the exchange of ideas, procedures and tactics among each participating air force to strengthen the joint team.