Below: There is a
growing rotary-wing
presence at the NTM,
which participates in
the insertion/extraction
of ground forces, or in a
combat search and rescue
role. This rather lovely
SA342M Gazelle is from the
Aviation Légère de l’Armée
de Terre (ALAT) unit at Etain.
Giovanni Colla/Remo Guidi
Bottom left to right:
F-2000A serial
MM7322/36-40 lands at
Mont-de-Marsan. Giovanni
Colla/Remo Guidi
Mirage 2000Ds from
the resident Escadron
de Chasse et
d’Expérimentation
(ECE) 1/30 ‘Côte
d’Argent’. Giovanni
Colla/Remo Guidi
F-16AM serial FA-116 of 31
Squadron at Kleine Brogel.
Giovanni Colla/Remo GuidiT
HE NATO TIGER Meet (NTM)
is famed around the world
for its annual collection of
stripes and colors. This year’s
event ran between May
13-24 and it a orded the
typical camaraderie of the NATO Tiger
Association with a range of exercises
and squadron activities — fostering
interoperability and team spirit.
However, the days of this event being
a social get-together are long gone,
and there are always some very serious
large-force exercises (LFEs) to be found
in a modern NTM.
This year’s event, hosted by Escadron
de Chasse EC 3/30 ‘Lorraine’ at Mont-
de-Marsan, included nearly 50 ghter
aircraft and 13 helicopters, which ew
approximately 900 sorties. For 10 days,
two waves were own; in the morning
combined air operations (COMAOs)
featured en-masse launches of aircraft,
with the afternoons being dedicated to48 August 2019 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net
EXERCISE REPORT// NATO TIGER MEET
46-51 Tiger meet_v2 C.indd 48 21/06/2019 11:27