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Special painting for the trip to Australia: A Eurofighter taking off from Neuburg an der Donau
Photo: Daniel Karmann / dpa
Around 250 soldiers and tens of thousands of kilometers: In the Air Force's largest mission in peacetime, six Eurofighters took off in the Indo-Pacific.
In the afternoon, the fighter jets of Tactical Air Force Squadron 74 took off from Neuburg an der Donau.
The goal is the first military exercise of the Air Force in Australia.
There, the Air Force is taking part, together with 16 other nations, in the "Pitch Black" exercise, during which air operations are trained, and in the "Kakadu" naval exercise.
Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea are NATO partners in the Indo-Pacific region.
Air force visits to Japan and South Korea are also planned.
The mission, entitled “Rapid Pacific 2022”, primarily represents a logistical hurdle: A400M transport aircraft and three A330 tanker aircraft are also involved in the laying operation, which took off from Cologne about half an hour before the combat aircraft.
In a first go, it's over 12,800 kilometers to Singapore within 24 hours.
During the entire mission, there will be almost 200 aerial refueling of the fighter jets, said Air Force Chief Ingo Gerhartz.
The lieutenant general and inspector of the air force, aviator name: Vega, will also climb into the cockpit during the exercise.
Tensions around Taiwan
The transfer exercise takes place in the shadow of tensions around Taiwan, but apparently without a direct connection.
Against the background of the more dominant superpower China, the German government has recently also turned its security policy attention to the Indo-Pacific region.
In NATO's new strategic concept, China is identified as a challenge.
Gerhartz said he didn't believe Germany was sending a threatening message to China by flying the Luftwaffe to Australia for an exercise.
Australia's Ambassador to Germany, Philip Green, also said there was no reason why Beijing should see a regular drill as destabilizing for the region.
Only civil airspace would be used on the way to Australia, said Gerhartz.
There should not be a crossing of the Taiwan Strait, recently the center of tensions between Taiwan and China, on the way to Japan and South Korea.
hba/dpa/Reuters