The First Helicopter Squadron is participating alongside the Air Base Rangers in NATO's largest air exercise, Ramstein Flag, as the only helicopter unit in the exercise. The Swedish unit is training in personnel recovery in a complex threat environment over the High North (the Arctic region spanning northern Norway, Sweden, and Finland), including air threats from combat aircraft and air defence systems. This is stated in a press release from the Swedish Armed Forces (Försvarsmakten).
– What makes us and the Air Base Rangers special is our ability to jointly plan personnel recovery operations and to create a common operational picture and mission planning with other air forces, says Andreas Johansson, acting division commander of the First Helicopter Squadron.
He emphasises that the unit is accustomed to operating in complex airspace alongside combat aircraft and to coordinating missions with air control and air surveillance units.
The Swedish units participating are based at Norrbotten Wing (Norrbottens flygflottilj) in Luleå (northern Sweden), with the exception of Blekinge Wing (Blekinge flygflottilj, southern Sweden), which has redeployed to Norway. The unit has conducted personnel recovery missions for isolated personnel together with the Air Base Rangers, missions directed by the Combined Air Operations Centre in Bodø, Norway (CAOC Bodø) and carried out behind enemy lines.
– The scenarios have varied in complexity. From individual pilots who became caught in trees during parachute landings and needed to be rescued, to helicopter crews with multiple casualties who were trapped in their aircraft and needed to be freed before evacuation and advanced medical care could take place, says Marcus Romare, platoon commander of the Air Base Ranger Company (Flygbasjägarkompaniet).
The personnel acting as casualties during the exercise have included both Swedish and foreign military personnel. According to the Swedish Armed Forces, this enables training of the Air Force's interoperability with other NATO units.
– All exercises include casualty scenarios in which both the helicopter squadron's and the Air Base Rangers' medical personnel provide advanced medical care. All missions are time-critical, as our helicopters must be protected by combat aircraft during the operation to prevent us from being shot down by the adversary's combat aircraft, says Andreas Johansson.
The exercise area in northern Norway, Sweden, and Finland stretches from coastline to high-alpine terrain. The area is sparsely populated and has limited civilian air traffic, which according to the Swedish Armed Forces allows for low-altitude flying and large-scale air operations involving more than one hundred aircraft simultaneously, something that is difficult to conduct in central Europe. Nordic Defence Sector has previously reported on the exercise.
For the Air Base Ranger Company, Ramstein Flag marks the conclusion of a six-month period during which a large part of the unit's education, training, and exercises have been conducted in the High North together with allies as part of Arctic Sentry.
– The Air Base Rangers have, through their expertise in operating in the High North, contributed to enhancing the Air Force's and our allies' ability to conduct effective operations in this demanding environment, says Marcus Romare.