From 11 till 22 September 2017, exercise Brilliant Arrow took place in the Northern parts of Germany and the North East of The Netherlands. Several German airbases hosted NATO allied aircraft that participated in BRAW17. Eight foreign F-16s and two additional German Eurofighters were temporarily based at Wittmund Airbase.

Exercise objectives
Brilliant Arrow is organized to test the readiness and procedures of the Nato Response Force (NRF). For the Luftwaffe BRAW17 is the most important exercise this year. Therefore the German Air Force invited other NATO countries to help them to get the organisation certified for their upcoming NATO Response Force task in 2018. The Greek, Polish and Turkish Air Forces accepted the invitation. The Turkish Air Force was present with two F-16s at Laage Airbase.

Winds hamper missions
The first Brilliant Arrow mission took off from Wittmund on the 14th, three days after the official start. On Monday the 11th, strong winds made flying impossible. Greek F-16s from Souda Bay’s 340th Squadron at Crete came in on the 12th. The same day, the Polish F-16 delegation arrived from Poznan Airbase. Strong winds were also the reason for mission cancelation on Wednesday, the 13th.

Our article about Briliant Arrow was published in the December 2017 issue of Full Stop magazine.