Story by U.S. Southern Command. Relampago VI occurred earlier this month. In 2017 NATO signed an Individual Partnership and Cooperation Programme with Colombia and the country joined NATO’s Partners Across the Globe in 2018. In January Colombia’s Vice Foreign Minister for Multilateral Affairs Adriana Mejía and Vice Defence Minister for Strategy and Planning Jairo García met with NATO representatives to extend bilateral cooperation between the South American nation and history’s largest military bloc.

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Exercise Relampago VI Soars Over Colombia

The skies roared with the sounds of U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcons. Sounds that are not usually heard in a small mountain community in South America.

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During Relampago VI, the established NATO partnership between Colombia and the United States allows for combat-ready pilots to integrate training and flying missions on multiple airframes.

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“Relampago VI will essentially be replicating certain threats,” said U.S. Air Force Capt. Jack Corriere, 79th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron pilot. “Ultimately as a pilot our objective is to be able to conduct missions as partner nations in NATO, and when we are called upon we can operate together and be confident in that.”