Kentucky Air National Guard’s 123rd Airlift Wing concludes operations supporting NATO exercise Ramstein Flag

Airmen with the Kentucky Air National Guard’s 123rd Airlift Wing concluded operations June 19 in support of Ramstein Flag 2026, a large-scale NATO defense exercise spanning Europe with troops from 18 nations.

More than 50 of the wing’s Airmen arrived in late May aboard three C-130J Super Hercules aircraft to conduct bilateral training with Danish forces and stand up operations for the two-week Allied Air Command exercise, which kicked off June 8. A second rotation of Kentucky Air Guardsmen followed, bringing total unit participation to more than 100 personnel.

Those Airmen supported 24 airlift missions through June 19, flying 228 personnel and 62.5 tons of cargo and equipment to multiple locations across Denmark, Belgium, Finland, Germany, Norway and Sweden, said Col. Nicholas Miles, a C-130J pilot and detachment commander for the 123rd Operations Group.

More than 200 Allied aircraft supported Ramstein Flag over a large geographic area encompassing numerous airspaces, Miles noted.

“It’s important that we practice with the partners we are going to fight with in the future,” he said. “Exercises like this give us the opportunity to practice operating in a contested environment, which we can’t do back at our home station.”

A Royal Danish Air Force officer who commands an Air Mobile Protection and Recovery Flight that flew on multiple missions with the 123rd AW said this kind of teamwork is essential for interoperability.

“Working with NATO Allies and the Air National Guard within the framework that’s been put up is invaluable training to have those assets at hand,” said the officer. “On a tactical level, the possibility and ability to do quality training with dedicated air crews and ground crews is ‘mission success’ for us.”

Throughout Ramstein Flag, Airmen and aircraft from the Kentucky unit supported the rapid infill and exfill of Danish troops at numerous locations with assistance from the wing’s 123rd Contingency Response Group, which specializes in airfield operations at austere locations. Those missions were part of a unified effort to enhance modern warfighting skills by employing the best techniques in a joint, multinational environment.

“A lot of these things, we have trained for when it comes to numbers and positions,” said Senior Airman Andrew Hudson, a loadmaster with the 123rd Airlift Wing. “But in (the environment here), we have to think on the fly and work on our feet. It’s definitely an experience going out to a place where I can hear several different languages, but still be able to come together and get the mission done.”

Capt. Kyle Wood, a C-130J pilot with the 123rd AW, said the experience of working with forces from multiple nations strengthens global employment capabilities in a way nothing else can.

“This allows us the ability to pull out different pages from different books in order to familiarize ourselves with operations unique to Norway, Sweden and Finland, for example,” Wood said. “At the end of the day, the airlift is supposed to be flexible and be anywhere, anytime — and we were able to do just that.”

Additional Guard units supporting Ramstein Flag included Mississippi’s 172nd Airlift Wing — specifically their contingency response team, which coordinated with the 123rd AW to establish airfields in austere locations and support global deterrence. Arizona’s 162nd Wing and support personnel from the National Guard Bureau also deployed teams to Denmark.