Dan Catlin, commander of Carrier Air Wing 8, told Military Times. “Participating in BALTOPS 23 and Arctic Challenge allows us to conduct integrated training and high-intensity activities with our Allies and partners to enhance collective defense capability across the NATO Alliance,” Capt. Ford Carrier Strike Group, flew their aircraft in mock missions for both exercises, according to U.S. Navy pilots with Carrier Air Wing 8, assigned to the Gerald R. Though BALTOPS and Arctic Challenge were not directly connected, some units participated in both. and partner pilots simulate combat scenarios.Ī sailor signals to an MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter on the flight deck of the destroyer Paul Ignatius on June 6 during BALTOPS 23.

Personnel from Nellis Air Force Base’s 414th Combat Training Squadron, which conducts Red Flag exercises in Nevada, helped U.S. Air Force flight contributions to Arctic Challenge. The 48th Fighter Wing out of RAF Lakenheath in England teamed up with Mildenhall’s 100th Air Refueling Wing and the Maine Air National Guard’s 101st Air Refueling Wing to coordinate U.S. Lucky and observant onlookers might have spotted an F-35A Lightning II, F-15E Strike Eagle or KC-135R Stratotanker streaking across the Arctic sky. The Air Force press office described this year’s Arctic Challenge Exercise, hosted in Finland, as a symbol of “the strength and capability of the Alliance throughout the Nordic region.” Air Force and Navy pilots finished their drills for Arctic Challenge, a Nordic-run aerial warfare exercise featuring 10 other NATO members, on June 9.

Navy command ship Mount Whitney sail the Baltic Sea during BALTOPS 23. Italian Navy ship ITS San Marco, Polish Navy ship ORP Torun, Royal Navy ship HMS Albion, and U.S.

Instal Fighter Jet Air Strike