The biggest NATO air exercise in Europe, Ramstein Flag 24, has been underway since Sept. 30 at the Anvravida air base in southwest Greece. The massive exercise is hosted by the Hellenic Air Force’s 117th combat squadron.
Turkey a ‘no show’
This is the first time that Greece’s air force has hosted the specific exercise, with more than 140 Allied aircraft participating, along with ground crews and staff officers. More than 100 landings of combat aircraft were recorded on the first day alone, with a large bloc being Hellenic Air Force fighter jets.
Air tankers and AWACS planes are also an integral part of the exercise, with an inter-branch aspect achieved with the participation of ground and naval forces. Flights and mid-air maneuvers are taking place over the Ionian and Aegean Seas and the Greek mainland, particularly the Peloponnese.
One notable absence among member-states is Turkey. That country’s military brass refused to submit flight plans for its military aircraft when entering – and then departing – the Aegean Sea, which is under the civil aviation jurisdiction of the Athens Flight Information Region (FIR). The development is a long-standing example of Turkish “exceptionalism”, with Ankara refusing to comply with Athens FIR regulations when applied to its military air assets. Civil flights emanating from, heading to or passing over Turkish territory – under the jurisdiction of the Istanbul FIR – comply with civil aviation regulations.
Athens declined to provide an “exception” in this case of Ramstein Flag 24 and Turkey’s demands, leading to a decision by the latter not to participate. Appeals by Ankara to the Alliance’s military leadership also fell on “deaf ears”.
One of the more impressive videos released on the official NATO site includes aerial footage above the northeast Aegean Island of Aghios Efstratios (Ai Stratis), where a monument to the fallen Greek aviator Nikos Sialmas stands. The latter died in the line of duty in 1992 when a Mirage F1 he was piloting crashed during an engagement with a Turkish F-16. One scene in the video shows a huge ground mural of a shield, a spear aimed at the east and the ancient Greek phrase Molon Labe (Come and get them, i.e. our weapons) – a classical expression of Spartan defiance. The image was portrayed on the patch of the 342nd all-weather squadron, comprised of the French-made Mirages, the downed pilot’s unit.
