NATO air force leaders meet to discuss Alliance air capabilities

NATO Air Force Chiefs from 27 NATO nations and four Partnership nations convened at Headquarters Allied Air Command, Ramstein Airbase, Germany.

According to NATO, the Commander of Allied Air Command, General Tod D. Wolters welcomed the Air Chiefs and Senior Enlisted Leaders and presented his perspectives on the current security environment and NATO’s strategic shift from assurance to deterrence.

“The support of Air Power from across the Alliance provides a credible and responsive deterrence and defence posture. Air Power is critical in meeting NATO’s desired objectives while providing key enablers in the defence of joint forces,” said General Wolters.

We stand ready to provide multi domain command and control of Air and Space assets as we deter our competition. Our centralised control and decentralised execution posture gives us great flexibility across our area of responsibility. The continuous improvements in our command and control tools and the experience gathered in our exercises have shown we are well prepared to meet the upcoming challenges.”

To provide context to the discussions, the Air Chiefs attended informational multi-media presentations, an Allied Air Command mission brief, and a tour of the Operations and Situation Centres.

“The event also brought together several distinguished visitors, to include the new Chairman of NATO’s Military Committee, Air Chief Marshal Sir Stuart Peach, Deputy Undersecretary of the United States Air Force for International Affairs, Ms. Heidi Grant, Commander of the NATO Airborne Early Warning and Control Force, Major General Dawn Dunlop, and Vice Admiral Mathias Winter, Executive Officer of the F-35 Lightning II Joint Programme.”

Air Chief Marshal Peach delivered his political-military perspective to inform the Air Chief’s discussions. The main themes of the symposium covered ‘Airpower’s Unique Contribution to NATO’s Success’, ‘Challenges to the Delivery of Air Capabilities’ and ‘The Way Forward’.