Air Defender was held from 12 to 24 June 2023. The exercise, coordinated by the German Armed Forces, involves up to 10,000 personnel from 24 different countries and 220 aircraft.
For this occasion the Luftwaffe (GAF, German Air Force) has painted one of their Airbus A400M transport aircraft with a large US flag covering almost the rear fuselage and a large part of the vertical stabilizer. Also a large Air Defender patch is painted on the forward fuselage and the underside of the rear ramp.
The A400M, serial 54+21 is operated by Lufttransportgeschwader 62 at Wunstorf air base in Germany.
