A Dutch air force F-35 flies low over the Ramstein Air Base flight line on June 6, 2024. The "Ramstein 1v1" exercise saw pilots engaging in one-on-one basic fighting maneuvers. (Alexander Riedel/Stars and Stripes)

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany — The rumbling of dogfighting filled the skies as the U.S. Air Force took a page from the Navy’s “Top Gun” school with the first U.S.-led fighter jet exercise of its kind at Ramstein.

In the inaugural “Ramstein 1v1,” more than 30 pilots from nine NATO countries on Thursday tested their skills against one another more than 10,000 feet above the Rheinland-Pfalz countryside.

A total of 37 fighter jets took turns squaring off in pairs during the seven-hour exercise, taking off and landing in waves on the Ramstein flight line, which is typically a hub for military cargo and transport aircraft.

Pilots from the United States, France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Poland and Finland flew here in seven different types of fourth- and fifth-generation jets, from U.S. and Norwegian F-35s to the French Dassault Rafale and the Italian Alenia Aermacchi M-346.

Hosted by U.S. Air Forces in Europe – Air Forces Africa, the exercise was the first of its kind in Europe and may have been the first time dissimilar NATO jets engaged in one-on-one basic fighting maneuvers, or dogfighting, since the end of the Cold War, Air Force officials said Thursday.

“It really comes from our commander, Gen. (James) Hecker,” said Lt. Col. Michael Loringer, referring to the U.S. Air Forces in Europe- Air Forces Africa boss.

An F-35 Lightning II banks over Ramstein Air Base, Germany, on June 6, 2024, during the "Ramstein 1v1" exercise. It was inspired by the Navy's Top Gun tactics and involved pilots from nine NATO countries. (Alexander Riedel/Stars and Stripes)

A German Eurofighter Typhoon takes off from Ramstein Air Base on June 6, 2024 for a dogfighting exercise hosted by U.S. Air Forces in Europe – Air Forces Africa. (Alexander Riedel/Stars and Stripes)

An F-35 Lightning II of the Dutch air force taxis after landing at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on June 6, 2024, accompanied by a Dutch F-16 Fighting Falcon. The base hosted a seven-hour exercise involving 37 fighter jets flying in waves to test their combat skills. (Alexander Riedel/Stars and Stripes)

“He’s flown out here in Europe for years,” said Loringer, the USAFE-AFAFRICA chief of weapons and tactics. “When he was a younger officer, he remembers being able to go and fly with every NATO nation and it was commonplace.

“He said we kind of moved away from that. He said, ‘How do we solve that?’ So that was our objective, to normalize us being able to go and fly with one another and build that trust between the pilots.”

German Col. Michael Trautermann, who works at NATO’s Allied Air Command at Ramstein, added that years ago, such exercises were so frequent that “you didn’t even think about meeting Dutch F-16s in the airspace and going for a common goal.”

That “needs to be practiced again because some of that has not been executed to that level in the past 20, 30 years,” he said.

The exercise took nine months to plan, Loringer said. A former staffer at Top Gun, formally known these days as the Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program, helped run it, since the premise is based on the Navy’s fighter-vs.-fighter tactics.

The pilots Thursday were given a customized envelope with a call sign and frequency for air traffic control, a time and coordinate, Loringer said.

“Their only objective was to make it to that coordinate at that time and come up on that frequency on their call sign,” he said. “They don’t know who they’re fighting until they see each other.”

An F-35 Lightning II banks through the clouds over Ramstein Air Base in Germany on June 6, 2024. The exercise, known as "Ramstein 1v1," featured pilots from nine NATO countries engaging in friendly competition to hone their dogfighting skills. (Alexander Riedel/Stars and Stripes)

A British Eurofighter Typhoon taxis after landing at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, on June 6, 2024, followed by a Dutch air force Fighting Falcon. The "Ramstein 1v1" exercise aimed to practice joint flying and build trust between NATO pilots. (Alexander Riedel/Stars and Stripes)

A Norwegian F-16 Fighting Falcon waits to take off for a dogfighting exercise at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on June 6, 2024. Dozens of NATO country pilots tested their skills in what organizers said was the first-ever large-scale fighter jet exercise at the base. (Alexander Riedel/Stars and Stripes)

RAF Lakenheath F-35 pilots Capts. Moritz Wienke and Patrick Pearce each flew twice Thursday, Wienke against a British Eurofighter Typhoon and a Finnish F-18 Hornet, and Pearce against a French Rafale and a German Eurofighter Typhoon. For each, it was their first time flying against those airframes.

“You’re working with jets that you normally don’t get to, which is pretty awesome, invaluable training,” Pearce said.

They said it was a friendly competition but competitive nonetheless.

“We all get along; we’re all friends,” Wienke said, adding that the competition aspect “comes with the spirit of the job.”

The pilots had to adjust their tactics based on the aircraft they faced.

“You see what they do, you react, you maneuver your jet in relation to them,” Wienke said. “It’s a constant assessment. The moment you lose sight of them, you lose the fight. It’s game over.”