NATO Launches the Second Phase of Neptune Strike 2025

As part of the second phase of Neptune Strike 2025, ongoing under NATO coordination, today’s air activity over Central and Eastern Europe has reflected a high level of integration between naval and air assets. The exercise, led by Joint Force Command Naples, involves a complex network of aerial refueling and strike missions across the eastern flank of the Alliance, from Poland to the western Black Sea.

Two USAF KC-135R Stratotankers—registration numbers 57-2605 and 63-8878—were tracked operating over Hungary and eastern Romania. Their mission was to provide aerial refueling to US Navy F/A-18 Super Hornets, which were active in two distinct operational theaters: one group conducted extended flight patterns over Poland, while another operated in the Black Sea area, likely simulating air defense or strike missions as part of Neptune Strike. The F/A-18s involved were likely assigned to Carrier Air Wing 8, embarked on the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78).

Supporting this, a Sikorsky MH-60R Seahawk helicopter (registration 168091) was tracked over the Ionian Sea, directly indicating the presence and position of the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group, currently deployed in the southern Adriatic.

The coordination between aerial tankers and naval air assets illustrates the core objective of the exercise: demonstrating NATO’s capacity to conduct long-range, integrated operations across domains and regions. By enabling the F/A-18s to project power from the Mediterranean to Poland and the Black Sea, the refueling missions greatly extended the reach and flexibility of carrier-based aviation in a multinational operational environment.