NATO Tiger Meet 2026

by Shawn Byers · Published June 18, 2026

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Story and photo by Shawn Byers

“Hard to be Humble” is the moniker of the NATO Tigers. The NATO Tiger Meet is an annual exercise held in a NATO country of Europe and attended by North Atlantic Treaty Organization country squadrons whose mascot is the Tiger. There are some exceptions if your squadron is in the wild cat family.

The origin of the Tiger Meet was in 1961 when United States Air Forces Europe invited Tiger Squadron counterparts from the United Kingdom and France to improve relationships within NATO. Representing strength, speed and hunting prowess, The Association of Tiger Squadrons was created and the success of this meeting ensured that the meeting would become an annual event.

High level training exercises, shared experiences, camaraderie and Tiger Spirit are the tenets of the meet. This year’s meet was hosted by the 116th Combat Wing, 335th MIRA of the Hellenic Air Force (HAF) at Araxos Air Base, Greece.

This was my first experience at a Tiger Meet. It was the beginning of my trip but the secondary reason for being in country. This coinciding exercise made for an epic trip as Spotters Day was scheduled for Friday May 8th. Spotters Day is open to the public for a nominal monetary fee and a vetting application. A number of smartly painted aircraft is worth the price of admission.

On the morning of Spotters Day, I arrived a tad late and it became rainy as we waited in line to check in and board a bus. The rain subsided even though the radar said otherwise. It remained cloudy for most of the day.

The first aircraft to launch were Hellenic F-16s from the home base on a local and unrelated mission. The morning mission of the Tigers was still a few hours away and the squadrons had a row of merchandise tents behind our location for us to visit.

In addition to the Greek Hosts, the following countries and squadrons participated in NATO Tiger Meet 2026:

Belgium, 31 Smd, F-16
Czech Republic, 221 VrL, UH-1Y
Germany, TaktLwG 51, Tornado

Hungary, 101 Sq, JAS-39C
Italy, 21 and 12 Gruppo, H-101, EF2000
Poland, 6 ELT, F-16
Spain, ALA 15, EF-18+
Switzerland, Staffel 11, F/A-18

Additionally there were a few observers, a visitor from TaktLwG 74 in EF-2000s and external participants GFD (Civil, Learjet 35 and 214 Gruppo in T-345As.

Trophy Winners were as follows:
Silver Tiger 12 Gruppo
Best Ops 31 Smd

Best Tiger Aircraft 12 Gruppo
Best Uniform Staffel 11
Tiger Games Staffel 11
Best Skit TaktLwG 51

Although Araxos has a single runway, the direction of use changed 4 times throughout the day. The Tigers launched left to right. Since the morning operations would have been backlit, the cloudy conditions may have been a blessing. Afterburners look great on a cloudy day.

After recovery and prior to the afternoon mission, single ship demo teams practiced for the open house air show scheduled for Sunday. The Hellenic Air Force’s Daedalus Demo Team practiced in a blue, white and gold T-6 Texan II. The Hungarian Air Force practiced in the Gripen and Germany practiced in the Eurofighter.

The sun peeked out just in time for the afternoon launch. With the runway switch, I was perfectly positioned as the aircraft were rotating. The sun did not last and ultimately, the runway operation changed again. I left the base around 5pm.

Although the weather was problematic, what a great experience it was. It is great to be present on base for an exercise like this. I was back on base two days later for the air show and I thought I would combine it with this report, but I took so many photos that I wouldn’t have room. Time permitting, I may do a separate article.