NATO radar aircraft scan the skies - aboard a “flying radar tower"

Record ID: 1988159

  • Title: NATO radar aircraft scan the skies - aboard a “flying radar tower"
  • Date: 4th April 2025
  • Summary: IN AIR (APRIL 03, 2025) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF COCKPIT OF AWACS (AIRBORNE WARNING AND CONTROL SYSTEM) DURING MANUAL RE-FUELLING OF FIGHTER JET PATCHES SHOWING FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES AND SYMBOLS OF NATO UNIT AERIAL VIEW OF SUNSET GEILENKIRCHEN, GERMANY (APRIL 03, 2025) (REUTERS) AWACS PLANE ON TARMAC PILOT CHECKING AIRPLANE PAN FROM AIRPLANE WINGS TO ENGINES (SOUNDBITE) (E
  • Embargoed:
  • Keywords: European security NATO airplanes NATO exercise fighter jets
  • Location: GEILENKIRCHEN, GERMANY
  • City: GEILENKIRCHEN, GERMANY
  • Country: Various
  • Topics: NATO,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA003419904042025RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: With more than 90 aircraft taking part in the NATO exercise "Ramstein Flag 25" (RAFL25), control and communication between the participants is crucial. The AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) works as 'flying sensor', providing participants in the exercise with the data needed for their missions.
    "Thanks to our sensors we are able to sweep the airspace around and able to detect and track flying objects and transmit them real time to higher echelons or to the fighters in the air space," explains Lieutenant Colonel Alessandro from Italy. "We can see farther than them, we can see earlier than them. Therefore we are an enabler for the air campaign."
    Among the 90 plus aircraft participating in the exercise are fighter jets, support aircraft and other assets, which operate from twelve NATO air bases. "What we do is command and control, mainly we control them, we manage them and we provide them all the information that they need to accomplish the task that the aircom is assigned," says Lieutenant Colonel Alessandro.
    Allied foreign ministers have been meeting at NATO headquarters since Thursday (April 3). Europeans have been anxiously seeking details on the timeframe and extent to which the U.S. aims to reduce its engagement in NATO for weeks, in order to coordinate the process of a European defense ramp-up to avoid security gaps in Europe. On Friday German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said that NATO allies were on path of spending more than 3% of their GDP on defence, outpacing the 2% goal.
    (Production: Erol Dogrudogan, Stephan Schepers, Anna Dittrich)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2025. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
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