Photo By Staff Sgt. Elizabeth Davis | Royal Netherlands Air Force Master Sgt. Naçim, logistic support element specialist...... read more read more
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ROYAL AIR FORCE LAKENHEATH, England -- The 48th Fighter Wing hosted members from the Netherlands and Denmark for the European Aviation Group F-35 Maintenance Externship Program.
The EAG is a military cooperation between seven European countries, aimed at improving interoperability between their air forces. The EAG develops joint procedures, organizes exercises, and promotes knowledge sharing at the tactical and operational level. This group allows the partners to strengthen efficiency and understanding during joint missions and operations.
This year, RAF Lakenheath hosted a trial exchange between Denmark, the Netherlands, and the United States. Allied nations embedded directly with Airmen in the 493rd and 495th Fighter Squadrons to gain hands-on experience of the procedures that make the mission soar.
“By embedding directly into each other’s units, allied maintainers gain an understanding of how different squadrons troubleshoot, sustain, and generate F-35 sorties,” said . Ian Baucant, 495th FS F-35A Lightning II flightline expediter. “We are showing our partners how we manage sortie generation and sustain aircraft under high operational demands. In return, we learn how they approach unique maintenance challenges, in some cases with fewer resources, and how they innovate solutions.”
These exchanges strengthen technical expertise and highlight broader lessons in operational readiness, emphasizing the Liberty Wing’s commitment to the Agile Combat Employment model.
“From the Danish perspective, we are fairly new and are going through our own milestones, to include deployment. It’s been nice to see how other squadrons have dealt with tooling and packing requirements," said Royal Danish Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Anders, Fighter Wing Skrydstrup production superintendent. “That’s where we can really learn something.”
This exchange of ideas supports transparent, consistent and integrated communication between allied nations.
“This Externship helps us operate seamlessly together and have more flexibility with rapid deployments,” said Royal Netherlands Air Force Lt. Myrthe, Leeuwarden Air Base maintenance officer. “Operationally, we already work with RAF Lakenheath quite a bit and this makes it more seamless to get experience with different cultures, methods, and to exchange ideas and solutions for common problems.”
Another core idea of the EAG Externship program emphasises the benefits of information sharing between partner nations.
“It’s all about networking - it’s been going on in the operations community for a long time, so it’s a good thing that the logistics part of the house gets familiar with each other’s procedures and gets more flexible for exercises and deployments,” said Anders.
The long-term vision includes a standing program that rotates personnel regularly, creating a network of maintainers who already know how to operate together before they ever face combat together.
For now, the Liberty Wing has embraced the training and mentoring opportunities offered by the Externship program.
“It has been an absolute pleasure serving as a project officer for this program,” said Baucant. “Watching our teams learn from one another and operate side by side has reinforced just how important these partnerships are to our mission and to the future of allied airpower. I would also like to extend a sincere thank you to all the units and organizations that supported this effort, especially those who provided tours and opportunities that made the experience so impactful.”
| Date Taken: | 09.29.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 11.20.2025 08:28 |
| Story ID: | 551678 |
| Location: | GB |
| Web Views: | 17 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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