This story, which published on June 7, 2016, has been updated.
BALTOPS. Anakonda. Saber Strike. Swift Response. All are ongoing exercises tThousands of U.S. and allied service members are participating in exercises across Europe, from Poland to the Baltics, in across countries like Poland and the Baltics to improve interoperability and prepare gear up for real-world conflicts. They come at a time when Russia is reportedly building new bases on the borders of Ukraine.
A 10-member unit in Poland U.S. Air Force detachment in Poland, which for the past four years has supported the hundreds of U.S. personnel and aircraft rotating into Poland, is supporting each of the current exercises, with backup from all over the world.
Twenty U.S. F-16s from the 31st Fighter Wing out of Aviano Air Base, Italy, and the 138th Fighter Wing, Tulsa Air National Guard Base, Oklahoma, are at in Lask air base, as part of the latest Aviation Detachment rotation 16-3, the latest rotation, U.S. Air Forces Europe officials told Air Force Times Tuesday. Separately, four KC-135s from the 100th Air Refueling Wing, RAF Mildenhall, U.K., and from the 434th Air Refueling Wing, Grissom Air Reserve Base, Indiana, are at Powidz air base.
Between the two bases, more than 450 airmen are participating in these operations.
"Aviation Detachment Rotation 16-3 is a rotation of deployed forces that come here on a ... recurring, annual basis, actually, on a quarterly basis," said Air Force Lt. Col Jason Repak, the commander of Detachment 1, 52nd Operations Group, in Poland.
The bases normally host F-16 and C-130 units, said Repak, who took command in 2015.
The small aviation detachment stood up in Poland in 2012, just a few years before Russia forces annexed the Crimea, then part of Ukraine, and before a spike in aerial interceptions of U.S. and European military and civilian aircraft across Europe by Russian planes.
Lask and Powidz air bases have become home to strategic air components needed to continue training with NATO counterparts. And during these overlapping exercises, they're at the center of it all.
"Each exercise is very distinct from one another," Repak told Air Force Times Tuesday. "We allocate the forces we have to each exercise based on those specific exercise requirements associated with each.
"We have 10 members total all of different functions to partly host these rotations and also to live and work with the Polish, day in and day out, to improve our ties and interoperability," he continued.
Repak said AvDet 16-13 is supporting the largest Polish-led exercise, called Anakonda, which kicks off this week with more than 30,000 military personnel and roughly 100 aircraft for air assault drills.
Close-air support will be the focus for the 16-3 rotation during Swift Response and Saber Strike, both U.S. Army Europe-led missions designed to for a range of missions that enhance training for forward-deployed and allied forces.
For BALTOPS, mMeanwhile, more than 15 countries and approximately 60 aircraft — 27 of them U.S. Air Force — are scheduled to participate in the joint, maritime-focused BALTOPS exercise from in Estonia, Finland, Germany, Sweden, Poland and throughout the Baltic Sea region.
This is the 44th year for the exercise, which will include B-52 strategic bombers for a third consecutive year.
F-16s from AvDet 16-3 are helping to train other air forces to defend ships and aircraft operating from the sea, Repak said. And KC-135 tankers are refueling any jet traveling a long distance for these ops.
"These missions are training [us] to be together, to be responsive, keeping the region safe, keeping stability within the region, by using forces...from the U.S., partner and allied nations to respond to any potential crisis," he said.
Regardless of what global crises arise, Repak said, the cohesion between allies' air, land and sea units "demonstrates we are here to protect the region as a multinational force."
Map created by Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory.
Oriana Pawlyk covers deployments, cyber, Guard/Reserve, uniforms, physical training, crime and operations in the Middle East and Europe for Air Force Times. She was the Early Bird Brief editor in 2015. Email her at opawlyk@airforcetimes.com.
