The NATO Tiger Meet is an aerial exercise that brings together the Flight Groups of different nations - whose coat of arms features a "tiger" – belonging to the NATO Tiger Association (NTA). Thirty-five years since its last iteration, the exercise returns this year organized by the Italian Air Force and will run from 2-13 October.

The aim of this activity is to refine cooperation and facilitate the sharing of experiences between the Armed Forces of Allied Countries, through joint training with fixed and rotary wing platforms, in a multi-domain operational context.

The Gioia del Colle air base (Bari), home to the 36th Wing “Caccia”, will host pilots and flight crews from over 10 NATO countries and their partners. With operations that will involve the airspace of Puglia, Calabria and Basilicata, in Southern Italy, the exercise will be useful to perfect the interoperability of assets in defence and air interdiction missions, provide support to troops on the ground (Close Air Support, CAS) or search and recovery of personnel in a hostile environment (Personnel Recovery – PR). This “Large Force Employment (LFE)” training will involve around 70 fixed-wing and 10 rotary-wing aircraft from over 10 nations, with special liveries dedicated specifically to the Tiger Meet. In addition to Italian Air Force units, Italian Navy assets will also be deployed in the exercise.