NATO wrapping up largest military air drills since inception PHOTO

NATO is wrapping up the largest military air exercises since the organisation's inception.

The NATO Air Defender 2023 exercises under the auspices of Germany will come to an end on June 23. They involved 10,000 pilots and 250 aircraft from 25 countries, including Türkiye, according to Anadolu.

Türkiye sent F-16 aircraft to the largest military air unit exercises in history. In addition to the allied countries of the Alliance, Sweden and Japan also took part in the exercises.

About 110 US Air Force aircraft were sent to Europe from North America to conduct the exercises.

American planes took off from 35 different states of the country, delivering more than 380 tons of military equipment to Europe.

In addition, 80 NATO aircraft from Europe and 60 aircraft from international partners took part in the exercises. 1,200 sorties were flown during the exercise.

Pilots from 25 countries performed manoeuvres on 20 types of aircraft, including F-35, Eurofighter, F-18, F-16, A-10 and Gripen.

One of the main bases where the planes were stationed was the Wunstorf Air Base near the city of Hanover.

According to the military, transport planes and tanker planes were mainly used in Wunstorf for logistics operations, which made about 15 sorties per day.

During the Air Defender 2023 exercises, about 50 A400M, C-70, and C-130 transport aircraft were transferred to the base in Wunstorf.

About 2,200 servicemen took part in the exercises, 500 of whom were Americans, some were Romanians and Hungarians.

The number of American personnel involved in the exercises exceeded 2,000 people.