Typhoons from 140 Expeditionary Air Wing conducted a live fire strafing sortie as part of NATO’s Exercise Dacian Strike 24 (DAST24) in Smardan, Romania. The RAF joined allies from Romania, Italy, France, Poland and USA in demonstrating how military assets can work together both in the air and from land.
DAST24 is a HQ Multi National Division-South East (MND-SE) ran exercise that focuses on developing Air Land Integration (ALI). Commanders and National representatives saw the coming together of the Division artillery and infantry fighting vehicles and Romanian SOCAT helicopters, Hawks and Royal Air Force Typhoons.
To start the demonstration French Army personnel opened with Caesar Howitzers to mark targets for RAF Typhoons to strike; this was followed by Romanian Army artillery and Romanian Air Force Hawks and rotary attack helicopters. The final wave saw Romanian artillery strikes allowing Polish Army ground assault units to move towards to the target area.
“One of the key elements when conducting ALI is to make sure that there’s deconfliction between the air and land environment, it involves somebody on the ground called a JTAC, who will be in coordination with the air elements, other ground elements and the overall commander to call in for the strikes when required.
“Land integration is key in any future war fight. If we don't understand each other's environment, then we cannot hope to be part of a coalition in a multi-terrain war fight. It's critical that we get the conditions set in place through training so we can execute properly in a war fighting operation environment.”
Group Captain Pete Thorbjornsen, Royal Air Force UK Joint Force Air Component Director
This is one of many NATO exercises the RAF Typhoons have taken part in while deployed on Op Biloxi, NATO’s enhanced air policing in the Black Sea region.
