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After last years Tiger Meet was initially planned to be held at Orland/Norway, 338 Squadron of the Norwegian Air Force had to postpone their plans to this year. This years NATO Tiger Meet was codenamed to the much more appropriate "Arctic Tiger Meet", as the meeting was hosted at cold Orland MAS in the middle of Norway. The base is situated almost at the edge of Europe, and is one of the few NATO bases that can enjoy the spectacle of the breathtaking Polar light and is surrounded by the ocean and the beautiful mountainous countryside. This years meeting was carefully, and in my opinion with great success organised by Major Marianne 'Mary' Knutsen. Major M. Knutsen is Norway's first female F-16 fighter pilot and the nominated Project Officer for NTM 07. For the first time in "NATO Tiger" history was the Orland MAS host of this NATO Tiger Meet, offering several very unique assets for all the participants. First of all is the weather around the airbase not the most reliable one there is, and was again showcased during the "Bold Avenger" exercise hosted before the Tiger Meet. Wind directions were all over the place, hail and rain were a constant factor and a low cloud base was grounding a lot of missions. Besides that is the airspace available for the exercises to the north, twice the size of Denmark and airspace to the south equals the size of Belgium. These two factors give participants a unique opportunity to practice flying in adverse weather & mountainous terrain.
The main operational focus was a full integration of Helicopter, Transport and Fighters in a high threat environment while conducting MEDEVAC and CSAR, with special attention for Joint Operations with Special Forces and 16 helicopters. For this years Tiger Meet a special scenario was put together. A conflict was growing between the fictitious democratic State of Valhall , bordered by Loke in the North and Fenris in the South, two countries that possessed unstable governments and regimes. NATO forces agreed to reinforce the host nations armed forces, and by this a wide scenario of air tasks could be conducted. In this respect elements of both National and NATO land and maritime forces were directly involved in Arctic Tiger '07, making it a truly Combined and Joint Multinational Exercise.
This year the Belgium 31 Smaldeel succeeded after three years to receive the famous "Silver Tiger" Trophy again. The trophy honors the operational and social skills of the squadron, together with the organizing 338Skv squadron they also managed to win the "Best Flying Squadron" Trophy. The award for the best special color scheme or markings, was the Staffel 11, with their superb F/A-18C Hornet Tiger tail section. This award can only be awarded to a unit that has fully participated in the respective Tiger Meet, and therefore could the more than beautiful French Super Etendards not be awarded with this trophy, as they arrived the day before the Open door days. The German 512 Squadron was awarded with the "Tiger-Sprit", while the French EC-01.012 was awarded with the "Best Tiger Dress" Trophy. Furthermore was the Spanish 151 Squadron awarded with the "Best Tiger Skirt" trophy, and last but definitely not least was the No.1 NATO Squadron from Geilenkirchen, Germany the winner of the "Tiger Games".
All reviewed is this one of the best meetings I have visited, with a more than great and flexible organization behind it, absolute awesome weather and colorful aircrafts and most of all a very relaxed atmosphere. Special thanks goes to the 338 Skv Public Relations, Major Marianne "Mary" Knutsen, and Major, Řivind Wathne for their hospitality, effort and their generous help in making this feature possible.
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