NATO TIGER MEET – when NATO Tigers meet

Every year, like a tribal ritual, the Tigers leave their “dens” and meet up to confront and battle in the skies of the countries of the Atlantic alliance. They are the NATO Tigers, they are the air force squadrons of the NATO member nations!

The NATO Tiger Meet (NTM) is an annual exercise of the flight squadrons of NATO members, and of some nations outside the Atlantic alliance, who use the tiger, or a feline, as the symbol of their squadron.

This exercise was born between the end of the 1950s and the beginning of the 1960s at the push of the then French Defense Minister Pierre Joseph Auguste Messmer to promote a form of collaboration between NATO members.

NATO Tiger Association (NTA)

So in 1961 the first Tigers competition took place at RAF Woodbridge air base in Suffolk, England, only to be repeated the following year at the same base. Since 1963, the NATO Tigermeet has taken place every year at a different base of the participating countries, the association founded in 1961 to bring together the NATO “Tiger” squadrons.

The NATO Tiger Association (NTA) is made up of 24 official members and 10 honorary members, it’s not a structural component of NATO and is responsible for managing the meetings of the Tiger Squadrons.

NATO Tiger Meet (NTM)

The NTMs are military exercises that involve the departments of the participating flight groups and sometimes also departments of ground components of other forces. As mentioned above, they take place every year in a different air base and, normally, the missions take place on two or three scenarios both in the morning and in the afternoon in the two weeks of exercise. Their aim is to perfect the interoperability of assets in defense and air interdiction missions, support for troops on the ground (Close Air Support – CAS) and search and rescue of personnel in hostile environments (Personnel Recovery – PR).

The participating members thus have the opportunity to compare themselves with the different means available and exchange data and information in order to collaborate within the Atlantic Alliance. The usefulness of the missions is to always maintain a high level of operational readiness and interoperability between the various air forces involved so as to be able to operate more simply and effectively in the event of an intervention or conflict involving NATO members.

NATO TigerMeet 2023

The 2023 edition of the NTM was hosted in October 2023 by the ItAF at its Gioia del Colle Air Base, and for this occasion Italy made logistical support available with components of the Italian Army, the Italian Navy’s “Caio Duilio” destroyer, air defense units, and Red Cross and Civil Protection in collaboration with the armed forces. The flight scenario encompassed Puglia, Calabria and Basilicata both on the Ionian Sea and on the Tyrrhenian Sea.

Not all members participate in the NTM every year: depending on squadron availability at the chosen time of year, participation may vary from year to year. In 2023, 12 nations participated in the NTM in Italy, just as 12 nations participated in the event held in June 2024 at Schleswig AB in Germany.

The bases hosting an NTM must be capable of managing traffic of 60 or 70 fixed or rotary wing aircraft, hosting all the mobile support structures of the squadrons and also ensuring their safety. Overall, several hundred troops and civilians may be involved: a significant challenge in terms of specific planning and integration of the different cultures among NATO members which starts as soon as the host base is selected.

The spirit of the Tiger Meet is to give credit to the important work that the Air Forces carry out daily and tirelessly for the defense of the skies and support for territorial defense. Within NATO, the work carried out by the allied air forces is fundamental to maintaining peace for the member countries of the Atlantic alliance and supporting friendly countries.

In addition to the strictly military part linked to the exercise, the Tiger Meet stands out for some peculiarities surrounding the seriousness of the operations. As we were saying, the members of the NTA are distinguished by having a Tiger or even just a wild Feline as their symbol, for this reason an aircraft is usually prepared for the NTM with a special livery dedicated to the Squadron’s symbol.

NTM Open Days

In the two weeks dedicated to the exercises, days are organized in which to host not only the media, but also civilian guests and enthusiasts who can admire the take-off and landing operations up close or in the case of Open Days they can also admire the aircraft with the special liveries created for the occasion.

On these days when the public and media are granted access to the base, in addition to meeting the flight crews and admire the aircraft up close, enthusiasts have the opportunity to interact with unit mascots and admire tiger-themed scenography developed by the squadrons, and – most importantly for some! – the possibility of purchasing exclusive squadron gadgets and clothing.

For the crews, time is carefully reserved apart from the demanding excercise-related activity and public relations with the public, to boost integration and camaraderie among participants, by means of social events and sports competitions, such as the International Night, when each squadron showcases food, drinks, music and clothing typical of their countries of origin.

Tigers Tradition

The tradition of the opening and closing flag ceremonies is a feature of every NTM, all participants are trained up with detachment commander (DetCo) out front to take the salute of the senior officer who is reviewing the troops. The band plays the national anthems of all the participants while their respective flag is raised.

At opening ceremony base commander and the visiting General makes a short welcoming speech and the visiting general then opens the meet pronouncing: “I declare the 20XX NATO Tiger Meet open”, the general leaves, and the host squadron commander makes the ‘Tiger -Tiger -Tiger’ call which dismisses the participants.

***^{Elephant Walk @ NTM23 (photo courtesy: Nato Tiger Association)}***

The traditional flag ceremony at the end of the meet has sometimes been modified to lower all the flags at the same time during the playing of the host’s national song.

The “Two Seaters” is also an interesting tradition of the NTM, where each squadron present brings a two-seater aircraft to the exercise on which members of the various crews of other nations will take their places in an important exchange and to also be able to “spy” or rather see the operations of their allies.

The immortal tradition of the NTM is the exchange of gifts between the various squadrons, which is immortalized and given to the history of the meeting with the official photos documenting this event.

Tigers

But how can you recognize Tigers? With appropriate clothing or something that symbolizes participation in the NTM. In fact, during the weeks of the exercise you can see crews and pilots not only with the classic Tiger scarf, but many overalls or work uniforms that recall the scratch of the tiger or with images of the feline often in aggressive or particular poses.

Another old tradition is the special headgear worn on arrival day. French berets, American cowboy hats, German spiked helmets, Portuguese bullfighter hats, RAF leather helmets, and others have been seen in years past when the canopies pop open.

Silver Tiger Trophy

An important Tiger Meet tradition is the Silver Tiger Trophy. The history of the Silver Tiger began in 1977, when the Tiger Meet was hosted for the first time by the Air Tattoo at RAF Greenham Common. As per tradition in the military community, an exchange of gifts takes place at the end of the meeting, and on the occasion of this event a precious silver tiger was donated to the tiger community.

This silver tiger soon became a trophy to be awarded during Tiger Meets, the winner will keep it until the next edition of an NTM and will then be honored by attaching a silver plaque with the date his unit won the trophy.

NATO TigerMeet 2024

In 2024, the NTM took place in Germany, at the German air base in Schleswig from 3th to 13th June and saw the participation of 13 Squadrons from Greece, France, Italy, Turkey, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, France, Portugal, Hungary, Belgium and The Netherlands.

While also in 2024 every participating unit showed up with tiger-themed special color machines and gear, there was no doubting the seriousness of the exercise and the full businesslike approach that all delegations of the 13 participating nations shared, under the careful eye of their respective commanding officers.

In fact, at NTM the various air force commanders are often present to follow their crews and to meet foreign and allied colleagues for an exchange of opinions and collaboration within the alliance and operations.

The NTM is an important joint exercise, but also a way of bringing together and uniting the members of such an important alliance, especially in recent years, so unstable and with many ongoing wars. Since its inception, air defense has always had a strategic importance and over the years also had a high role in the protection of populations.

NATO and the NTM thus have the opportunity to perfect each year their interaction capabilities between different cultures, different systems and always guarantee the air/earth security of the member states of this important alliance.

NTM25 – Beja (Portugal)

The 2025 TigerMeet will be hosted by the 301° Squadron “Jaguares” (Esquadra 301) at Beja Air Base in (Portugal), our Team will also be present next year.

From NTM: Daniele Maiolo, Fabio Castelvetri/CUBO Photo Milano
Photos: Daniele Maiolo, Fabio Castelvetri/CUBO Photo Milano