The UK, French and the US Armed Forces have concluded their inaugural trilateral anti-access / area denial exercise at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia, US.
Hosted by the 1st Fighter Wing (FW), the 16-day exercise witnessed participation from around 500 service members including 225 personnel from the US Air Force (USAF), 175 from the UK Royal Air Force (RAF) and 150 from the French Air Force (FrAF).
The exercise involved procedures in rigid operational environment through a wide range of simulated challenging situations to train the participants on improving interoperability, de-confliction and coordination process.
RAF air staff chief, air chief marshal Andrew Pulford said: "This is a fantastic opportunity for the European air forces to get alongside the USAF to start delivering true interoperability across Europe and across Nato."
Additionally, the service members developed their knowledge of the logistics, support requirements, capabilities, tactics, techniques and procedures associated with the integrated operation of coalition front-line fighters.
USAF chief of staff general Mark A. Welsh III said: "The big benefit of this exercise is these three air forces have capability that many air forces don’t.
"So being able to operate our aircrews, our maintenance crews, our intelligence support teams in preparation for a future operating environment that maybe more difficult than what we’ve been fighting in is really an important step to refocusing on that full-spectrum fight we have not been involved with in recent years, but is always a potential in the future."
"For the last 50 years we’ve been focused on an environment that is very permissive.
"As a result, the legacy systems we’ve had in our Air Force that I think have made us great in the last 50 years have been very successful.
"We must modernise our air force so that we’re great for the next 50 years."
Image: The three military officials during the Trilateral Exercise at Langley Air Force Base. Photo: courtesy of Tech. Sgt. Katie Gar Ward / U.S. Air Force.
