FEATURE
CULTURE
CULTURE
Fire, Emergency Services Competition, Page 8
86th Ops Group celebrates 83 years, Page 12
Groundhog Day, Page 14
February 14, 2025 | Volume 49, Number 6
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Spartan Lightning: Perfecting F-35 interoperability at RAB Story and photos by Senior Airman Tabatha Chapman 86th Airlift Wing Service members from the U.S., Royal Norwegian and the Royal Netherlands Air Force showcased readiness, interoperability and maintenance proficiency during Spartan Lightning at Ramstein Air Base, Feb. 6-7. A total of seven F-35A Lightning II aircraft participated in the exercise, with pilots and
maintainers represented from each other’s airplanes,” said Lt. Col. U.S., Norwegian, and Dutch air Jared Marvin, 5th Combat Training forces. In addition to hands-on Squadron D Flight commander. training, simulated combat sceExperts providing F-35 tactics narios were offered to the F-35 and intelligence subject matter pilots to achieve learning objec- experts facilitating mission plantives pertaining to offensive and ning environments executed scedefensive counter air missions. narios during the simulations. “This Spartan Lightning This allows the participants to iteration was the first of its kind leverage their training to help because we flew in seven F-35s them create tactical solutions and to Ramstein for the pilots to par- exercise eight ship operations, ticipate in the simulator training Marvin explained. and for the maintenance personnel to participate in cross-servicing of See SPARTAN, Page 3
An F-35A Lightning II assigned to the Royal Netherlands Air Force takes off during exercise Spartan Lightning at Ramstein Air Base, Feb. 7. F-35 aircraft from U.S. and Dutch air forces were used to achieve multiple learning objectives including maintenance interoperability between NATO Allies and partners. Photo by Airman 1st Class Dylan Myers
Speyer! by MilitaryinGermany.com
Close to the Rhine River, Speyer is a town in the RhinelandPalatinate. The town is certainly an ancient one as it was recorded on one of the Greek geographer Ptolemy’s maps, dated 150 AD, as Noviomagus. In fact it is one of the oldest cities in Germany. There are many delightful parts of Speyer to explore including its location in the wine-growing region. See SPEYER, Page 30
“The Brutalist” is the fea tured movie of the week , Pa
ge 31
Rhein river at Speyer photo by Achim Lammerts/Shutterstock.com
Lots of reasons to visit