Allied fighters stationed in the Baltics under the NATO Air Policing mission including French Rafales, German Eurofighters and Polish F-16s took part in the exercise. They supported the exercising ground units from the resident battle groups and their Estonian hosts by conducting live training serials. This provides valuable currency training for the aircrew and JTACs by using simulated attacks within training ranges.

“Close Air Support missions build critical relationships between Soldiers and Airmen that ensure joint operations can be executed rapidly whenever and wherever needed,” said Major Guillaume Veuille, French Rafale detachment commander, Lituania. “JTACs are an important link between the ground units and our pilots, training like this helps test NATO tactics techniques and procedures refining our skill sets for future joint missions.”
JTACs are specially trained in Air-Land Integration and communicate directly with aircrew via radio and digital means to control close air support sorties. The integration between naval, air, and land forces bolsters Alliance multi-domain operations to ensure that each domain can work seamlessly together.