Saber Junction 2020

In south Germany, near Nüremberg, is located the United States Army Garrison Hohenfels Training Area, managed by the 7th Army Training Command. This Joint Multinational Readiness Centre (JMRC) regularly organises large exercises at the Hohenfels Training Area and at the ‘Grafenwoehr Training Area’, which is some 100km away. From 3 to 27 August 2020, the JMRC organised Exercise ‘Saber Junction 2020’. This is an annual and a large-scale exercise in which the 173rd Airborne Brigade (Sky Soldiers), an American Airmobile Brigade based in Vicenza, Italy is evaluated for their immediate deployability. Some 4000 soldiers participated in this exercise, and in addition to US troops, there were soldiers from Albania, Georgia, Lithuania, Latvia, Moldova, North Macedonia, Romania and the Ukraine.

The Germany-based 12th Combat Aviation Brigade (12CAB) provided CH-47 Chinooks, UH-60 Blackhawks, HH-60 MEDEVAC Blackhawks and AH-64 Apache helicopters for this exercise. On the first day, three US Marines MV-22 Ospreys from Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263 also participated.

During the exercise, several Eurocopter UH-72 Lakota light support helicopters operated over the Hohenfels area, these militarised EC145 helicopters being flown by the locally-based JMRC Falcon team. The green-coloured Lakota was used by the observers and referees of this exercise and the yellow/brown coloured Lakotas as enemy helicopters (Red-Air). On 13 August 2020, a media day was organised at the Hohenfels range, such images now shared with readers of the Vayu.

Photos and article by Joris van Boven

With thanks to 12CAB’s PAO Major Fellingham.