USAFE units participate in BRILLIANT ARDENT 2010

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Keith Houin
  • USAFE/PA
RAMSTEIN, Germany --  The 22nd Fighter Squadron at Spangdhalem Air Base and 351st Air Refueling Squadron from RAF Mildenhall are partnering with air forces from the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, and Turkey to participate in Exercise BRILLIANT ARDENT 10.

The large scale NATO Response Force Air Live Exercise hosted by Germany began April 12 and will run through April 22. Participation by U.S. Air Forces in Europe units directly aligns with the command key mission areas of providing forces for global operations and building partnership.

Sixty aircraft ranging from fighters, attack aircraft, helicopters, tanker and airborne early warning aircraft are operating from air bases located in Germany, the Czech Republic, France, Poland, and UK.

In addition to air assets, tactical employment of Theater Missile Defense and Ground Based Air Defense assets will be extensively exercised.

The aim of BAT 10 is to train, test, integrate and validate the interoperability, readiness and capabilities of NATO Response Force 15 nominated air forces and associated command structures by exercising NRF missions and tasks in a challenging and realistic scenario.

The exercise is also open to "non NRF" air units from NATO, as well as Partnership for Peace nations, and provides an outstanding training opportunity. The exercise scenario is based around a United Nations mandated NATO-led Crisis Response Operation in a fictitious geo-political setting, a scenario specifically designed for this exercise.

The NRF concept provides the Alliance with a robust capability to meet the challenging security environment of the 21st century by providing a highly trained and agile force, at high readiness, able to deploy at short notice wherever and whenever directed to do so by the North Atlantic Council.

The NRF comprises deployable NATO Land, Maritime and Air Forces provided by Nations on a rotational basis. Training of the force is both essential and continual in order to maintain assigned forces at peak readiness. It is only through exercises such as BAT 10 that NRF forces can be operationally certified as trained, capable and ready to fulfill the NRF mission.