Fourth consecutive year for JTAC exercise Ample Strike

NAMEST, Czech Republic - The Czech Republic will host the international live-fly and live-firing exercise Ample Strike 2017 in different training areas across the south of the country from August 23 to September 12, 2017.

Some 300 international participants from 17 Allies and Partner nations as well as approximately 1,000 members of the Czech armed forces will exercise the Forward Air Controller (FAC) or Joint Terminal Attack Controller (JTAC) drills in typical Air-Land-Integration scenarios.

Starting August 23, supporting Allied aircraft will arrive in the exercise area. From August 28 to September 8, more than 30 aircraft, helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles from eight Allied nations will provide the close air support platforms that the JTACs call to assist Army commanders on the ground.

“The Ample Strike exercise series have earned considerable credit in the past,” said Czech Air Force Colonel Zdenek Bauer, the exercise director. “When we started to plan this year’s event, we had applications from 40 JTAC teams that we needed to accommodate within the limits of the Czech airspace and training areas. Our aim is to offer complex live-fire simulations and demanding scenarios based on extant NATO standards,” Bauer added underlining that this quality depends on the Allies and Partners who make their aircraft available.

This is the fourth consecutive year that the Czech Armed Forces host this international JTAC exercise Ample Strike. The main base for Ample Strike 17 will again be the 22^ndHelicopter Base at Namest, where the Czech Armed Forces and Colonel Bauer’s team will be busy ensuring all participants undergo challenging theatre-realistic drills.

Between 2010 and 2013, NATO Allied Air Command at Ramstein, Germany, conducted the annual exercise Ramstein Rover offering a venue for international JTAC teams to keep current and hone critical skills. The Czech Republic has since continued this tradition and earned great merits for upholding this live-fly and live-fire exercise for NATO and Partner JTACs demonstrating Allied cooperation, efficiency and capabilities.

Story by Ample Strike Joint Media Information Centre