Cold Response 2022
Cold Response 2022 (CR 22) is a Norwegian military exercise in which Norway invites NATO allies and partner nations to participate. The most visible part of exercise CR 22 took place between 10 March and 10 April 2022. In early January, Allied forces came to Norway to train on how to operate under harsh winter conditions. Cold Response concluded most of this allied training, but there were some allied training in Norway even after Cold Response. The NATO alliance is the backbone of Norway’s defence. Should anyone attack the country, Norway will invoke Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty and Norway’s allies will assist militarily. A credible defence of Norway is based on Allied training and exercises in peacetime and Norway’s ability to receive and host Allied support. “We depend on our allies’ ability to master demanding Norwegian weather and winter conditions. To ensure this, our allies must train and exercise in Norway regularly” says the author of this article. As of 4 March 2022, a total of 27 nations and some 30,000 soldiers had signed up for Cold Response. The 30,000 participants consisted of 14,000 land forces, 8,000 naval forces and 8,000 air forces and staff. About 220 aircraft and more than 50 vessels took part in the exercise. In addition to military units from NATO, partner nations and the Norwegian Armed Forces, a number of Norwegian civilian agencies and organisations also took part.
Media Flight
On 22 march 2022, a media flight took place in an Airbus A330 MRTT (registration T-058) , flying from Cologne-Bonn airport (ICAO: EDDK) or the military name of this airbase: Flugplatz Wahn. The flight was organised by both the Multinational Multirole Tanker Transport Unit (MMU) and NATO Allied Air Command. The air refuelling flight delivered fuel to aircraft flying in the Cold Response exercise in Norway. After take-off, the A330 MRTT flew some 2 hours to mid Norway where several aircraft were refuelled. Six Norwegian Air Force Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II fighters were refuelled with the tank boom. One Swedish Air Force Saab Gripen fighter, simulated the air refuelling with the hose and drogue system, as this aircraft type was not yet certified for refuelling. Some US Marines Boeing F/A- 18s were mentioned as possible receivers, but these aircraft did not show up. After the refuelling, a 2 hour flight back took the A330 back to Cologne-Bonn airport.
MMU
In 2012, the European Defence Agency (EDA) started to address the long-standing European shortfall in the air-to-air refuelling capacity. Since then, this initiative has grown into a mature programme managed by the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA), on behalf of the nations. The Netherlands and Luxembourg initially launched the programme in July 2016, with the first as the lead nation of the project. Germany and Norway joined in 2017, Belgium followed in early 2018 and Czech Republic lastly joined the MMF programme in October 2019. In 2020 Luxemburg funded the 9th A330 tanker aircraft. The MMF aircraft will be operated by the Multinational Multirole Tanker Transport Unit (MMU) comprising of military personnel from the participating countries. The unit is based at two permanent operating bases, the Main Operating Base in Eindhoven and the Forward Operating Base in Cologne-Wahn (Germany). Among the nine MMF aircraft, five will be based in Eindhoven and four in Cologne.
MMU and Cold Response 22
The Multinational Multirole Tanker Transport Unit (MMU) supported the longplanned defensive exercise Cold Response 22 in Norway. Training together with NATO allies, the main role of MMU is to provide air-to-air refuelling capabilities. Cold Response 22 ensures NATO allies are capable of carrying out complex joint operations in the harshest of environments.
Text by: Alex van Noye & Joris van Boven
Photos: Air to air photos: Alex van Noye & Joris van Boven/Stock photos of the A330 exterior: Alex van Noye & Joris van Boven/Stock photos of the A330 interior, the ARO console: MMU