U.S. soldiers participating in exercise Saber Junction unload a Humvee and weapons from an Air Force C-130 at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Germany on Sept. 5, 2024. (Lydia Gordon/Stars and Stripes)
HOHENFELS, Germany — A U.S. Air Force Super Hercules packed with Humvees and anti-tank weapons roared onto an Army airstrip surrounded by Bavarian forest, where it supplied airborne troops locked into possibly the most challenging combat drill they’ll see all year.
The first of eight C-130J aircraft, seven American and one Italian, arrived around 10 a.m. Thursday on a dusty gravel runway at the 7th Army Training Command’s Joint Multinational Readiness Center for exercise Saber Junction.
The short takeoff and landing strip, located deep in the Hohenfels Training Area, was rehabilitated by Army and Air Force engineers and construction crews just in time for the exercise, which began Aug. 25 and is taking place through Sept. 19 in Grafenwoehr and Hohenfels.
The air cargo was delivered to paratroopers with the 173rd Airborne Brigade, who were fending off simulated attacks. It was the first time in about five years that the airstrip was in a condition to host the transport plane.
Lt. Col. Travis Toole, the 54th Engineer Battalion commander, supervised the offload from a concealed position along the flight line.
“Last night, we received a lot of contact here on the airfield,” Toole said. “That emphasizes the importance of airfields not only to us but to our adversaries. It’s critical that you can seize and secure an airfield.”
Initial estimates said the restoration work could take up to six months, but the team’s surveyors and equipment operators graded and packed down the soil in just over one month, an Air Force statement said.
The Super Hercules, with its four Rolls-Royce turboprop engines, can weigh as much as 164,000 pounds, so any dirt runway it lands on must be rated to handle the load.
There are no plans currently to use the airstrip for anything outside of training, training command spokesman Capt. Harold Shorter said on Friday.
An Air Force C-130 prepares for takeoff at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Germany on Sept. 5, 2024, after dropping off weapons and equipment for soldiers participating in exercise Saber Junction. (Lydia Gordon/Stars and Stripes)
A U.S. soldier participating in exercise Saber Juntion carries a weapon off a C-130 at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Germany on Sept. 5, 2024. The cargo plane landed on a runway that was restored just ahead of the exercise. (Lydia Gordon/Stars and Stripes)
An Air Force C-130 closes in on a newly reconstructed airstrip Sept. 5, 2024, at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Germany to drop off weapons and equipment for soldiers participating in exercise Saber Junction. (Lydia Gordon/Stars and Stripes)
Saber Junction is an annual multinational land warfare exercise. This year’s participants include Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Georgia, Italy, Lithuania, Montenegro, Moldova, North Macedonia and the United Kingdom.
On Wednesday, Brig. Gen. Steven Carpenter, who leads the training command, said they were incorporating tactics and technology as a result of lessons learned from observing the war in Ukraine.
Toole and 180 fellow “Sky Soldiers” parachuted into the small German village of Eglsee on Wednesday morning. They then marched several miles to their positions in the training area.
Before they could get situated, the Army training center’s resident opposition force, 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, attacked at midnight with a 45-minute blitz from a platoon-sized element.
They initially got the upper hand before they could be pushed back, Toole said. He watched another Super Hercules take off after offloading a tank-killing TOW Improved Target Acquisition System.
“American paratroopers don’t stay in the defense for very long,” Toole said. “We’re going to stop the enemy and immediately go into the offense.”
Soldiers from the 961st Engineer Construction Company work to renew a runway at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center, Germany, on June 25, 2024. (Adrian Greenwood/U.S. Army)
U.S. soldiers from the 961st Engineer Construction Company renovate a runway at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in the German state of Bavaria on June 25, 2024. (Adrian Greenwood/U.S. Army)
