The Allied Airpower Podcast

In this episode of The Allied Airpower Podcast, Kea Alishia Phlatts sits down with Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, Chair of the NATO Military Committee, during his visit to Allied Air Command at Ramstein, 25-26 March 2026. As NATO’s senior military officer and principal military adviser to the Secretary General, Admiral Dragone sits at the center of the Alliance’s military decision-shaping process, helping translate the collective judgment of thirty-two Chiefs of Defence into advice for NATO’s political leadership.
It is a role that demands perspective, and Admiral Dragone brings plenty of it. Over the course of nearly five decades in uniform, he has served as a helicopter pilot, jet pilot, ship commander, special forces leader, joint commander, Chief of the Italian Navy, and Chief of Defence before assuming NATO’s top military post. In this conversation, he reflects on how those assignments shaped his understanding of leadership: the need to make decisions under pressure, the burden of command when others look to you for direction, and the reality that no service and no nation succeeds alone anymore.
A major theme throughout the episode is trust. Not as a slogan, but as a military necessity. Admiral Dragone describes trust as the essential ingredient that allows Allied nations to operate as one: trusting that capabilities will integrate, that commitments will hold, and that when one nation is exposed, the others will step forward. That idea runs through his reflections on jointness, coalition warfare, and the practical demands of holding an Alliance together across domains, services, and national perspectives.
The episode also offers a clear view of how he thinks about NATO airpower today. Effective airpower, he argues, is no longer just about aircraft and sorties. It is an integrated enterprise built on intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, command and control, readiness, logistics, sustainment, missile defence, and the ability to connect those capabilities across the air, land, and maritime domains. In other words, modern Allied airpower is not simply about what flies. It is about what connects, what endures, and what can respond fast enough to matter.
That makes his discussion of Eastern Sentry especially timely. Speaking about NATO’s enhanced Vigilance Activity along the eastern flank, Admiral Dragone frames it as both reassurance and deterrence: reassurance to Allies that the Alliance is alert, adaptive, and united, and a warning to potential adversaries that NATO can move quickly, integrate rapidly, and defend its populations without hesitation. His message is straightforward: readiness matters, speed matters, integration matters — but none of it works without trust.
This episode is ultimately about more than one senior leader’s career. It is about how Alliance warfare actually holds together at the highest level: through shared values, collective responsibility, and the confidence that thirty-two nations can act together when the moment demands it.
Recorded Thursday, 26 March 2026.


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Across these nine updates, NATO’s air enterprise is doing three things at once: sharpening high-end combat skills, tightening Integrated Air and Missile Defence (IAMD) on the eastern flank, and cycling Allied detachments through Baltic and Black Sea operating locations to keep a persistent, credible air policing posture in place.
We start in the United Kingdom with Cobra Warrior 2026-1, the Royal Air Force’s premier tactical air training event. The exercise is designed to push aircrews through complex, high-end warfighting scenarios and culminates months of preparation aimed at keeping Allied air forces integrated, adaptable, and ready. The focus is composite air operations: joint mission planning, tactical execution, and the synchronization of tactics, techniques, and procedures against a peer-competitor threat. Cobra Warrior also doubles as a leadership pipeline, producing mission commanders and functional team leaders able to direct coalition air operations in a resilient, decentralized command environment.
That emphasis on integration and readiness carries into Ramstein, where Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone and the NATO Military Committee visited Allied Air Command on March 25–26, 2026. The visit underscored the strategic importance of Allied air and space power in maintaining deterrence and defence, with a clear theme: trust, cohesion, and reliability among Allies are not “nice-to-haves,” but core strategic assets. The discussions highlighted how NATO secures its airspace—particularly along the eastern flank—through an integrated air and missile defence framework that combines air policing, ballistic missile defence, and vigilance activities such as Eastern Sentry, supported by continuous intelligence and information sharing and effective command and control across the Alliance.
From there, the story shifts to the operational reality of deterrence and assurance: rotational deployments that keep NATO’s defensive posture visible and responsive from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea.
Over Lithuania, Romania assumed air policing duties from Šiauliai Air Base, deploying F-16s and roughly 100 personnel as part of Eastern Sentry. This marks Romania’s fourth contribution to Baltic air policing from Lithuania, and the rotation is strengthened by a parallel French Rafale presence operating from the same base. Two detachments, two aircraft types, one mission—continuous monitoring and the ability to intercept aircraft approaching NATO territory when required.
France’s own deployment — four Rafales to Šiauliai — took the lead for NATO’s Baltic Air Policing mission as Spain rotated out. It also marked France’s ninth rotation in Lithuania, with additional deployments to Ämari, Estonia reinforcing a consistent pattern: the Alliance sustains air defence through routine, interoperable, multinational detachments that can plug into the same command-and-control architecture on day one.
Estonia saw the same continuity from a different angle. Portugal deployed F-16s to Ämari Air Base to assume Baltic air policing responsibilities from Italy, keeping fighters on quick reaction alert under the Combined Air Operations Centre in Uedem, Germany. The Portuguese rotation included four aircraft and up to 95 personnel and marked Portugal’s ninth participation in NATO air policing overall—its second time conducting the mission from Ämari after earlier deployments to Šiauliai.
The handovers matter because they demonstrate what NATO’s air policing model is built to do: sustain uninterrupted coverage, absorb transitions cleanly, and maintain readiness at speed. Italy’s concluding rotation in Estonia is a good example. After two consecutive deployments at Ämari, Italian Eurofighters handed over to Portugal, closing out a demanding stretch that included continuous quick reaction alert, more than 1,300 flying hours, multinational training, air-to-air missions alongside multiple Allies, and activities designed to validate procedures against emerging threats.
Spain’s conclusion in Lithuania followed a similar pattern. After two consecutive rotations at Šiauliai, Spanish F-18M Hornets logged more than 900 flying hours and conducted more than 25 “Alpha Scrambles” in response to unidentified aircraft approaching NATO airspace. The detachment also took part in multiple multinational exercises and executed Agile Combat Employment activities, including cross-servicing with the Lithuanian Air Force: practical, hands-on steps that expand operational flexibility and help sustain dispersed operations. Spain also contributed counter-unmanned aircraft systems protection at Šiauliai and supported air-to-air refuelling with A400M aircraft, reinforcing interoperability and readiness across the region.
In the Black Sea region, Romania’s south-eastern air defence mission saw two major transitions.
First, Germany concluded two consecutive rotations at Mihail Kogălniceanu Air Base, having been deployed since summer 2025. German Eurofighters accumulated more than 600 flying hours and flew over 470 sorties, including more than 25 Alpha Scrambles — maintaining a persistent, responsive presence close to a strategically sensitive air approach. Germany also conducted flexible deterrence options under Eastern Sentry and routinely operated alongside Romanian F-16s, building interoperability in the day-to-day rhythm of real-world vigilance.
Then the Royal Air Force deployed Eurofighter Typhoons to Borcea Air Base to take over the enhanced air policing mission from the outgoing German detachment for the next four months. The deployment—supported by around 200 personnel—paired British quick reaction alert duties with Romanian Air Force cooperation and highlighted Agile Combat Employment in practice: operating from an alternative Romanian location and integrating mission execution through close coordination with NATO’s air command-and-control architecture. The result is a flexible, scalable posture designed to adjust rapidly to shifts in the security environment while keeping air policing continuous.
Taken together, these stories show NATO’s air mission in full motion: high-end tactical training that builds mission command and coalition proficiency; senior-level focus on air and space power as strategic enablers of deterrence; and a steady cadence of rotations that keeps fighters, enablers, and command-and-control networks aligned across the Baltic and Black Sea regions. The throughline is consistent: readiness, interoperability, and the ability to sustain persistent defensive coverage across the eastern flank.


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In this episode, we track six connected stories that show NATO’s air enterprise accelerating integration from the High North to the Black Sea — pairing persistent presence with scalable deterrence and multi-domain readiness.
We begin in Finland, where a NATO AWACS aircraft conducts its first mission in Finnish airspace, a milestone after Finland’s accession that expands long-range surveillance and airborne battle management in the High North. Coordinated by Joint Force Command Norfolk and tasked by Allied Air Command, the mission demonstrates seamless integration with Finnish command-and-control and F/A-18 formations.
That integration scales up under enhanced Vigilance Activity Eastern Sentry, with two back-to-back Flexible Deterrent Option missions spanning NATO’s eastern flank. On March 4, Allies conduct Counter Anti-Access/Area Denial training near Mihail Kogălniceanu Air Base in Romania, combining French Mirage 2000Ds, German Eurofighters, Spanish and Romanian fighters, and key enabling tankers under NATO air command-and-control. On March 5, the effort shifts north for a multi-domain find, fix, track, and target exercise around the Baltics, linking air, ground command-and-control, and surface-based air and missile defence contributions from multiple Allies.
We then stay on the eastern flank with another Eastern Sentry event in Romania focused on Integrated Air and Missile Defence and counter-unmanned aerial systems, integrating Romanian, Greek, Turkish, and French capabilities with AWACS support under NATO control — reinforcing NATO’s ability to connect sensors, shooters, and decision-making against evolving drone threats.
In the High North, Sweden concludes its first Icelandic Air Policing mission since joining NATO, flying JAS 39 Gripens from Keflavík and operating within NATO’s command-and-control framework alongside Danish F-35s and German Eurofighters, while coordinating closely with Icelandic authorities.
We also mark long-term capability growth as Poland celebrates 20 years of F-16 operations, from its 2003 decision to acquire 48 aircraft and modernize key bases, to current contributions to NATO air defence and the planned upgrade of its fleet to the F-16V configuration.
Finally, Exercise Cold Response 26 closes out Arctic Sentry’s first major exercise, bringing 25,000 personnel from 14 NATO nations together across Norway, Sweden, and Finland. With AWACS supporting from Ørland and the new Combined Air Operations Centre in Bodø commanding air operations, the exercise demonstrates NATO’s ability to coordinate, sustain, and operate in demanding Arctic conditions.
Together, these stories highlight a consistent message: NATO is strengthening its air and missile defence posture through interoperability, distributed operations, and multi-domain integration — delivering credible deterrence across every corner of the Alliance.


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Not every NATO mission begins with aircraft in the air. Some begin with relationships.
In this episode of The Allied Airpower Podcast, ‘Houdini’ spoke with Major Joseph Plata of NATO Allied Air Command’s A9 Military Partnership Branch about one of the Alliance’s less visible but strategically important missions: building and sustaining relationships with partner nations. It is work that happens largely behind the scenes, but it plays a direct role in strengthening trust, improving understanding, and expanding cooperation across the air domain.
Major Plata helps coordinate one of NATO’s most practical partnership tools: Mobile Training Teams (MTT). These teams deliver tailored, unclassified training to partner nations on subjects such as air operational planning, force protection, airspace management, space operations, and public affairs. But as Major Plata explained, the value of these missions goes beyond instruction. They help open lines of communication, reduce misconceptions, and create the kind of professional trust that cannot be built through policy documents alone.
This episode offers a useful reminder that Allied Air and Space Power are not only about platforms and operations. It is also about people, partnerships, and the steady work of building trust before it is needed most.
Recorded Wednesday, 18 March 2026.


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In this episode, Jose “Houdini” Davis breaks down one of the most practical mission sets in modern Allied airpower: F2T2 — Find, Fix, Track, and Target. Using AIRCOM’s 5 March 2026 Eastern Sentry mission as the central example, the episode explains how NATO connects sensors, command and control, and decision-making across multiple domains to turn detection into operational effect.
This is not just a discussion about aircraft or weapons employment. The episode makes clear that F2T2 is a team effort built on ISR, command relationships, decision authority, and interoperability across Allied nations. Davis walks listeners through the logic of the targeting chain and shows why speed alone is not enough; what matters is disciplined speed, shared awareness, and the ability to act coherently under pressure.
The episode also places the March 2026 mission in the larger context of Eastern Sentry and NATO’s broader effort to strengthen deterrence and defence along the eastern flank. By connecting this event to earlier F2T2 missions and recent multi-domain training, Davis shows how NATO is building a more integrated, flexible, and responsive approach to air and missile defence.Recorded Friday, 13 March 2026.


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