The multinational exercise, Real Thaw 2022, began today, June 26th, with the opening ceremony presided by the Air Commander, Lieutenant-General António Branco, at Air Base Nº 11, in Beja.

The ceremony began with the hoisting of the national flag, followed by the hoisting of the participating countries flags and their National Anthems.

The Air Commander spoke a few words during the ceremony, expressing his wish that “this exercise will be a success and an excellent opportunity to prepare our forces, share knowledge and experiences”.

The Real Thaw is an exercise organized annually by the Portuguese Air Force and, in this edition, with aircrafts from Portugal, Belgium, Spain, the United States of America, France and with forces from NATO, Lithuania and the Netherlands. This exercise will end on the 8th of July.