NATO launches largest air exercise in history

NATO has launched the largest air exercise in its history, Air Defender 23. They will last until June 23. More than 20 countries and about 250 military aircraft including American and Dutch F-35 will take part in the exercise, Bloomberg reported. According to AFP, 10,000 military personnel are involved. The exercises are taking place at four sites in Germany, one in the Netherlands and another in the Czech Republic. Air Defender 23 will mainly be conducted in three airspaces in northern, eastern and southern Germany. This space will be partially closed to civilian flights. German airline Lufthansa said it was preparing for it. Luftwaffe (German Air Force) General Ingo Gerhartz told AFP that the exercise was planned for 2018, in part as a response to Crimea’s annexation of Russia in 2014. At the same time, he said, the exercises “are not aimed at anyone,” and they will not include “any flights, for example, in the direction of Kaliningrad.”