PEORIA — For the next two weeks, members of Germany's Air Force will participate in joint exercises with American forces across the country, called Proptoberfest, strengthening the relationship between the two militaries.
Their first stop, though, was in Peoria at the 182nd Airlift Wing of the Illinois Air National Guard.
Performing military exercises with NATO partners "enhances adaptability and preparedness because we're going to be operating throughout the world," said Col. Rusty Ballard, commander of the 182nd.
Ballard, who is originally from Oreana in Macon County, first joined the Army National Guard more than 30 years ago before joining the Air National Guard, he said.
"Threats from all over the world are coming closer to home every day, so we may need those allies," Ballard said.
Strong bonds
Last summer, the 182nd participated in Air Defender 2023, the largest air exercises ever conducted between joint NATO forces.
The 182nd led the aircraft operations for the C-130 Hercules, a tactical troop transport plane used by the U.S. and other countries.
"Air Defender, last year, was more of a holistic approach to an exercise," said Maj. Joseph Chambers, chief of tactics for the 182nd.
That included everything from transport to fighter aircraft and intelligence gathering — "every single platform you could have not only in our inventory, but in all the NATO countries' inventories that we had," Chambers said.
The 182nd worked closely with Germany's Air Transport Wing 62 based out of Wunstorf Air Base, which is about 18 miles from Hanover, Germany, and wanted to return the favor by inviting them to the U.S., Ballard said.
"What we're trying to do is build this relationship based on that previous exercise," he said.
Twenty-two members of Air Transport Wing 62 arrived last weekend with an A400M Atlas, a multi-purpose transport aircraft made by Airbus, Ballard said.
On Tuesday, they worked alongside some 40 members of the 182nd and with two U.S. crafts, including the C-130 Hercules the 182nd used in Air Defender, he said.
"Just like Air Defender, it's getting together to do all the tactics, techniques and procedures that NATO allies do together," Ballard said. "So a lot of mission planning, studying tentative threats, formation flying from point A to point B, supplemental fuel operations, air drops and various other tactics."
Modern and multi-faceted
Proptoberfest was initially slated to include multiple A400M Atlas aircraft, Ballard said, but Germany could only spare one.
But even one of the new aircraft affords a good amount of interoperability training for the joint forces, said Lt. Col. Dimitri Wilk of Air Transport Wing 62.
"The A400 is the most modern airlifter in the western world at the moment. ... It has all the state of the art features in the flight deck (and) in the cargo hold you wish to have for a new airlifter," Wilk said.
The A400M Atlas can serve as a tanker aircraft or troop transport, but another unique feature is its ability to take off from unpaved roadways and climb at a steeper angle than other such aircraft, he said.
"The most important thing if you're in a threat environment is to get out of (small-arm weapons') range, and the faster you climb, the faster you're out of their range," Wilk said.
Onward and upward
From Peoria, Air Transport Wing 62 will travel to Fort Huachuca in Arizona for low level mountain flying, Ballard said.
"From there, we're going to go to Colorado Springs to a high density altitude mountain flying course, land on some unapproved landing surfaces, and then go to California, fly over the Pacific Ocean, down to San Diego and drop some Navy SEALS," he said.
"We wanted to be an accommodating host, just like they were to us, and show them a little bit of the U.S. and what we can provide to them for training," Ballard said.
Proptoberfest is also a major morale booster for troops on both sides, both commanders said.
"It promotes team cohesiveness. It gives somebody something to look forward to," Ballard said.
And it's fun, Wilk added.
"We (would) love to be here more days to see more of Illinois, but, as you heard from Col. Ballard, we have to depart to and see a lot more of the United States. And (there is) a lot of work to do and a lot of fun with the work," he said.
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