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NATO Wraps Ramstein Flag 26 After Validating Distributed Airpower and Highway F-35B Ops

The two-week exercise confirmed Agile Combat Employment practices and exposed sustainment and C2 lessons NATO will use to refine dispersed operations.

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Two U.S. Marine Corps F-35B Lightning II aircraft with Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 224, Marine Aircraft Group 31, 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, land during exercise Ramstein Flag 2026 in Tervo, Finland, Jun. 10, 2026. (Image credit: U.S. Marine Corps phpto by Cpl. Mya Seymour)

Overview

  • Ramstein Flag 26 ran across Europe from June 8 to June 19 and concluded with NATO officials saying the exercise validated concepts for generating and sustaining airpower from dispersed sites.
  • Combined Air Operations Centre Bodø served as the lead CAOC and coordinated multinational mission planning, air tasking and ISR that linked operations from northern Norway to southern Spain.
  • U.S. Marine F-35B jets from VMFA-224 conducted landing and takeoff operations on the Tervo highway strip in Finland between June 8 and 12, operating alongside Spanish F/A-18s and Polish F-16s to test alternate landing sites.
  • The exercise produced more than 1,000 sorties, over 75 tanker sorties and consumed roughly 2 million liters of fuel while practising hot-pit refuelling, cross-servicing and multinational maintenance at bases such as Rovaniemi and Pirkkala.
  • After-action work will focus on tightening logistics, tanker and ISR links, cross-servicing procedures and command-and-control for ACE so NATO can improve resilience in the High North and across dispersed theaters.