The NATO TIGER MEET 2021 (NTM2021) exercise opening ceremony, presided by the Portuguese Air Commander, Lieutenant-General Eurico Craveiro, took place yesterday, on the 2nd of May, in Air Base Nº11, in Beja. 

The event was initiated with the raising of the flags, and National anthems of every participating nation and NATO. The Portuguese Air Commander welcomed all nations.

Subsequently, the 301 Squadron commander, Major Emídio Fernandes, gave a speech on the importance of this exercise, in order to maintain the cooperation and interoperability between NATO military forces. Along with the resiliency in performing an exercise of this dimension, even during the pandemic situation that we are currently facing, and reinforced the need to follow the necessary rules to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

The NTM2019 wining squadron commander declared the opening of the exercise with F-16 AM flying over the sky of Beja, which will be a recurring operational activity until the 14th of May. 

It important to remember that #NTM2021 has 8 participating Tiger squadrons, from six countries (Portugal, Greece, The Netherlands, Italy, Poland and Switzerland) and NATO, as well as, three flight squadrons from France and The United States of America, with a total of 56 aircraft.