NATO Masses Large, Unannounced Air Package Including EA-37B Compass Call Along Kaliningrad Amid Force-Posture Review

A large, U.S.-led NATO air exercise flew combat-strike, aerial-refueling, airborne-early-warning and electronic-warfare missions along the alliance's northeastern flank on August 18, 2026, some of it directly abutting Kaliningrad, the heavily militarized Russian exclave wedged between Poland and Lithuania. Flight-tracking data logged 25 to as many as 50 aircraft (officials declined to give an exact figure, citing operational security) including US and Norwegian fighters, a NATO E-3A AWACS command-and-control aircraft, and the US Air Force's EA-37B Compass Call — a heavily modified Gulfstream G550 and the newest electronic-attack platform in the American inventory — which flew from Souda Bay, Crete, landed at Powidz, Poland, orbited roughly two hours over northern Poland west of Kaliningrad, then returned to Greece. Polish ground forces participated alongside the air package. Col. Martin O'Donnell of Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe said allied forces are "constantly honing their defensive abilities," describing the show of force as reflecting the alliance's routine defensive posture rather than a response to a specific Russian action, even as US intelligence continues to assess Russian intentions along NATO's eastern flank. The exercise is notable for this tracker's Article 5/burden-sharing theme: it landed in the middle of the Pentagon's six-month Europe force-posture review and the ongoing controversy over the leaked NATO loyalty questionnaire, serving as a visible demonstration of continued US and allied air presence even as Washington weighs troop and equipment cuts.