The United States Air Force (USAF) and Navy (USN) have conducted deployments to Europe, supporting NATO to secure Europe’s eastern flank in the midst of Russian aggression towards Ukraine.
The aircraft are deployed to several airfields around Europe, with the core of the border control operations being Spangdahlem. As part of the deployment, 12 F-35s from the 388th Fighter Wing at Hill AFB are operating from Spangdahlem. These are at present being replaced by fresh F-35s from the 158th Fighter Wing at Vermont.
Furthermore, 6 EA-18G Growlers from VAQ-134 at NAS Whibdey Island are deployed at Spangdahlem. These jets are used for electronic warfare missions.
Alongside these jets, five KC-135R are operating out of Spangdahlem. The tankers are from different Air Refueling Wings, like the 92nd ARW at Fairchild and the 22nd ARW at McConnell.
By the beginning of March, the 104th Fighter Squadron sent 10 A-10C Warthogs to Iceland, from where they split into two groups. A group of 6 A-10s flew to Ramstein Airbase as TREND51-56 supported by ROMA71, a KC10 from Travis AFB. From Ramstein, they further departed to the Baltic region to take part in the multinational exercise “Swift Response”.
Moreover, the local aircraft of the USAFE are supporting the NATO allies. Spangdahlem based F16s assigned to the 52nd Fighter Wing deployed to Romania. Together with F16s from the 31st FW at Aviano Air Base, they operate along the Eastern NATO flank.
