U.S. Airmen strengthen regional partnerships at ACE 17

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Abby L. Finkel
  • 48th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
ROVANIEMI AIR BASE, Finland --  Flying high above Sweden, Norway and Finland, representatives from 11 nations and NATO trained together to strengthen partnerships and interoperability from May 22 to June 2 at Arctic Challenge 2017.

For the duration of the two-week exercise, the three host nations welcomed more than 100 aircraft and 1,000 military members onto their bases for one of the biggest air exercises in Europe this year.

The participating U.S. Airmen, from RAF Mildenhall, England, and RAF Lakenheath, England, were stationed at Kallax Air Base, Sweden, and Rovaniemi Air Base, Finland, respectively.

Every day, aircraft from each of the bases met in the combined airspace of the three Nordic countries to perform a wide variety of interoperability exercises aimed at creating a force of allies ready to seamlessly respond together to a crisis when needed.

"We're from various air forces," said Swedish air force Maj. Johan Jeppsson, Gripen Operational Testing and Evaluation director of operations, "but at the same time we're [performing operations] almost the same way. We're very good at fighting together."

In order to practice working together as a cohesive unit, participants worked through simulated scenarios including live-flying events to train on offensive and defensive air combat operations. They also worked on evaluating aircraft, personnel and weapons capabilities, as well as mobilizing and training in multinational operations.

"We all bring a different perspective to how we solve very challenging problems," said Lt. Col. Jason Zumwalt, 493rd Fighter Squadron commander. "The Finnish air force provided us with some very challenging and robust scenarios that each country would approach slightly differently. What we found is that by working together and leveraging the capabilities of each nation in a synchronous way, we can achieve better results together."

At the end of each training day, pilots at all three bases participated in extensive debrief sessions to discuss the lessons learned from the day's scenarios, which was accomplished through a group video conference. The briefings offered a way to look at lessons learned and make improvements both in the current exercise and in future operations.

"I've seen quite a few international exercises," said Finnish air force Lt. Col. Sami Puuperä, Rovaniemi Air Base commander, "and I think that we are ready to operate together. We have some different ways of doing things, but the basic idea is the same. We have different kinds of capabilities; we all have all our strengths and weakness. Together we are a lot stronger than just one nation alone."