NATO’s Ramstein Legacy 2024: multinational drills, fighter jets, and live-fire demonstrations.
Synopsis
In the multinational live exercise Ramstein Legacy 2024, personnel from 20 NATO countries participated in biannual Integrated Air and Missile Defence (IAMD) drills across nine locations in Bulgaria and Romania. The exercise concluded with a live-firing event by Surface Based Air and Missile Defence units.
Ramstein Legacy serves as NATO’s capstone IAMD exercise, allowing member countries to test command and control, airborne early warning, and air defence system weapon firing.
Notably, Finnish and UK fighter jets joined Allied training activities, marking Finland’s first foreign deployment for NATO since joining the Alliance in April 2023.
Footage includes Finnish and UK fighter jets launching to fly sorties from Mihail Kogalniceanu Airbase in Romania. It also includes French, German, Polish and Romanian troops demonstrating various weapons systems at Capu Midia Training Range, including the PATRIOT surface-to-air missile system.
Transcript
SHOTLIST
(00:00) MEDIUM SHOT – UK EUROFIGHTER FIGHTER JET PARKED ON THE TARMAC AT MIHAIL KOGALNICEANU AIRBASE
(00:04) VARIOUS SHOTS – FINNISH F/A-18 FIGHTER JET BEING MAINTAINED IN THE HANGER AT MIHAIL KOGALNICEANU AIRBASE
(00:11) MEDIUM SHOT – FINNISH F/A-18 PARKED ON THE TARMAC AT MIHAIL KOGALNICEANU AIRBASE
(00:15) VARIOUS SHOTS – FINNISH F/A-18 AND UK EUROFIGHTER JETS PREPARE FOR SCRAMBLE AT MIHAIL KOGALNICEANU AIRBASE
(00:49) VARIOUS SHOTS – UK EUROFIGHTER TAKES OFF
(01:02) ZOOM SHOT – FINNISH F/A-18 AIRBORNE
(01:05) VARIOUS SHOTS – GERMAN TROOPS SETTING UP THE PATRIOT SURFACE-TO-AIR MISSILE SYSTEM
(01:30) MEDIUM SHOT – ROMANIAN HAWK MISSILE DEFENCE SYSTEM
(01:34) MEDIUM SHOT (MUTE) – POLISH TROOPS DRIVE THROUGH THE FIELD WITH THE PSR-A PILICA AIR DEFENCE SYSTEM
(01:40) MEDIUM SHOT (MUTE) – GERMAN PATRIOT MISSILE DEFENCE SYSTEM
(01:46) VARIOUS SHOTS – POLISH TROOPS OPERATE THE PSR-A PILICA AIR DEFENCE SYSTEM
(02:07) MEDIUM SHOT – FRENCH TROOPS SETTING UP THE MAMBA MISSILE DEFENCE SYSTEM
(02:11) VARIOUS SHOTS (MUTE) – POLISH TROOPS DRIVE THROUGH THE FIELD WITH THE PSR-A PILICA AIR DEFENCE SYSTEM
(02:20) ZOOM SHOT – DRONES BEING LAUNCHED FROM LAUNCHING PADS
(02:24) MEDIUM SHOT – LIVE-FIRING OF THE ROMANIAN PATRIOT SURFACE-TO-AIR MISSILE SYSTEM
(02:30) SOUNDBITE IN ENGLISH – LIEUTENANT COLONEL RAMI LINDSTRÖM – FINNISH F/A-18 DETACHMENT COMMANDER IN ROMANIA, FINNISH AIR FORCE
“Our major thing is to contribute to NATO air power and air policing missions. And during the same time, we are executing air shielding missions. For us, it means that we are participating in NATO exercises and contributing to the whole big picture, since we are doing our national flight training during the same time. And one crucial part for us is that we are enhancing our deployment capabilities, since we have been homeland defenders for decades, that now we are learning and enhancing the capabilities to operate under the host nation, supporting other countries.”
(03:13) SOUNDBITE IN ENGLISH – LIEUTENANT COLONEL RAMI LINDSTRÖM – FINNISH F/A-18 DETACHMENT COMMANDER IN ROMANIA, FINNISH AIR FORCE
“We are here to contribute to NATO air power and deter aggression.”
(03:17) SOUNDBITE IN ENGLISH – LIEUTENANT COLONEL RAMI LINDSTRÖM – FINNISH F/A-18 DETACHMENT COMMANDER IN ROMANIA, FINNISH AIR FORCE
“This is our first time here in Romania. And it is great that we are able to enhance NATO itself.”
(03:25) SOUNDBITE IN ENGLISH – LIEUTENANT COLONEL RAMI LINDSTRÖM – FINNISH F/A-18 DETACHMENT COMMANDER IN ROMANIA, FINNISH AIR FORCE
“It is a really important milestone for Finland and the integration into NATO air power. And we are able to enhance here Romanian air policing capabilities as a part of the Alliance.”
(03:41) SOUNDBITE IN ENGLISH – WING COMMANDER KARL BIRD - COMMANDING OFFICER OF 140 EXPEDITIONARY AIR WING, UNITED KINGDOM ROYAL AIR FORCE
“We're here to provide 24/7 quick-reaction alerts in support of NATO, defending international and Romanian airspace and the rules-based international order.”
(03:51) SOUNDBITE IN ENGLISH – WING COMMANDER KARL BIRD - COMMANDING OFFICER OF 140 EXPEDITIONARY AIR WING, UNITED KINGDOM ROYAL AIR FORCE
“The Black Sea is the eastern flank of NATO. We are not very far away from a conflict in Europe, and Romania shares a border with Ukraine, So it's a political or geopolitical location. Romania and its eastern side is very important.
(04:08) SOUNDBITE IN ENGLISH – WING COMMANDER KARL BIRD - COMMANDING OFFICER OF 140 EXPEDITIONARY AIR WING, UNITED KINGDOM ROYAL AIR FORCE
“So the UK conducts air policing across all of the eastern flank of NATO, and we take it in turns with our colleagues and partners to make sure that all of the air policing detachments that are required three times a year are filled across the east. Last year, we were in Ämari, in Estonia, and in the two years before that we were back here in Romania. Next year, we’ll go to Poland, and then in 2026 we may come back to Romania. But we vary what we do across the eastern flank. It allows us to work with different partners and nations, and it all has to be in sequence with the other air policing nations and where they require to be.”
(04:47) SOUNDBITE IN ENGLISH – WING COMMANDER KARL BIRD - COMMANDING OFFICER OF 140 EXPEDITIONARY AIR WING, UNITED KINGDOM ROYAL AIR FORCE
“So the Finnish Air Force have been a partner nation of NATO for many years. We share a long, rich history. We were both formed in 1918, and we've operated and worked together, both the UK and Finland, but also Finland and NATO for many years. Having the Finnish here on an air policing detachment with us allows us to learn from them. Their Air Force credentials are second to none. There are some particular areas where they are world leaders in that we look to learn from them, such as things like agile combat employment and dynamic use of your aircraft. So we look forward to both integrating them into the NATO Air Policing mission here with us, but also learning from our Finnish colleagues and professionals in their air force.”
(05:25) SOUNDBITE IN ENGLISH – CHIEF WARRANT OFFICER MARGEAN – 74TH PATRIOT REGIMENT, ROMANIAN AIR FORCE
“For Romania, it is good to work with NATO Allies because they have more experience with Patriot than us, because we have from 2019.”
(05:34) SOUNDBITE IN ENGLISH – CHIEF WARRANT OFFICER MARGEAN – 74TH PATRIOT REGIMENT, ROMANIAN AIR FORCE
“The best part is to use the experience of the old NATO Allies. It is good for us because we are new in this system, Patriot. And they have onboard long time ago, Patriot. And it's better for us to exchange experiences.”
(05:51) SOUNDBITE IN ENGLISH – DR CRISTIAN COMAN – CHIEF SCIENTIST, JOINT INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE AND RECONNAISSANCE CENTRE (JISRC), NATO COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION (NCI) AGENCY
“Class one UAS threat has become one of the most important threats that we observe at the moment in the military conflicts. For many years, having air superiority was one of the pillars of the NATO doctrine. We have seen recently that that's no longer the case. And then the smaller aircraft and those drones from the air can cause a lot of damages to our units and the troops.”
(06:17) SOUNDBITE IN ENGLISH – DR CRISTIAN COMAN – CHIEF SCIENTIST, JOINT INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE AND RECONNAISSANCE CENTRE (JISRC), NATO COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION (NCI) AGENCY
“For this exercise, Ramstein legacy 2024, we have been in Romania, close to the Black Sea. We have been doing some experiments here with counter-drone equipment. We have been flying our own drone to see how the system can detect and counter the operation of those drones. What was interesting here, we already see that there are some degradations of the GPS signal which affected our exercise as well. However, with support from operational commands, we were able to eliminate that threat after a couple of hours.”
(06:56) SOUNDBITE IN ENGLISH – DR CRISTIAN COMAN – CHIEF SCIENTIST, JOINT INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE AND RECONNAISSANCE CENTRE (JISRC), NATO COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION (NCI) AGENCY
“So in this exercise we are complementing the ground based air defence system. So, we have to find balanced solutions that we can counter these cheap drones. We cannot use very expensive equipment. And as such, we have to be very creative, innovative to find those new solutions of detecting the drones.”
(07:21) SOUNDBITE IN ENGLISH – DR CRISTIAN COMAN – CHIEF SCIENTIST, JOINT INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE AND RECONNAISSANCE CENTRE (JISRC), NATO COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION (NCI) AGENCY
“So, also very important for us is to keep the pace of development, we do not have much time to adapt to the threat. As such, we have to work hand-in-hand with industry and military to make sure that we get the right solution from the beginning.”
(07:36) SOUNDBITE IN ENGLISH – MAJOR VEREEN – JOINT COUNTER-SMALL UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS OFFICE (JCO), UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
“Not everyone has a shared understanding of some of the counter-UAS operations. So what we're trying to do is share best practices and also the NATO concept for units to go back to their home station and employ some aggressive counter-UAS measures and solutions.”
(07:56) SOUNDBITE IN ENGLISH – MAJOR VEREEN – JOINT COUNTER-SMALL UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS OFFICE (JCO), UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
“It’s important to mitigate the risks of unmanned aircraft systems that's currently being deployed. And so it's working together and, having a shared understanding and knowledge of how we can increase to develop solutions.”
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