German Air Force

The largest air force maneuvers in NATO history begin today in German airspace. About 10,000 soldiers and 250 aircraft from 25 countries will participate in the two-week exercises.

NATO will begin the largest air force deployment exercise in Europe in the alliance's history on Monday in a display of unity toward partners and potential threats such as Russia.

The German-led "Air Defender 23" will run until June 23 and include some 250 military aircraft from 25 NATO and partner countries including Japan and Sweden, which is bidding to join the alliance.

Three Russian military aircraft flying without transponder signals have been intercepted in international airspace over the Baltic Sea, Germany's Luftwaffe said on Wednesday. German and British forces were deployed to identify the two Sukhoi Su-27 fighter aircraft and one Ilyushin Il-20 aircraft, the German air force said on Twitter.

Chief of the German Air Force, Lieutenant General Ingo Gerhartz and the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, Major General Viorel Pana, signed on Thursday, during a ceremony held at the 57th Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base, the Declaration of Intent on the Development of Bilateral Relations in the aviation sector.

The Air Forces of Greece and Israel held a joint twelve-day exercise based at the 110 Combat Wing of the Larissa Air Base until November 2, as part of the defense cooperation program of the two countries.

Germany will not donate four Airbus H145M helicopters, as recently reported "by some media in Serbia," Germany's state broadcaster Deutsche Welle has said.

The broadcaster said it learned unofficially from the German Air Force, the only formation in that country that has these helicopters in service, that they "know nothing about a donation."

Germany is planning on building a fixed location inside Turkey's ?ncirlik Airbase, where it is already deploying Tornado jets and an aerial refueling jet along with hundreds of soldiers, for around 65 million euros, Germany's Der Spiegel reported on April 25. 

The first batch of German troops, two reconnaissance jets and an aerial refueling jet landed in Turkey's southern ?ncirlik Airbase on Dec. 10 as part of a deployment in the battle against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Syria.