NATO is launching its biggest exercise since the Cold War, rehearsing the arrival of US forces as reinforcements for European allies in countries bordering Russia and on the Alliance's eastern rim should a conflict break out with an adversary of "similar strength".
About 90 soldiers should take part in the Steadfast Defender 000 exercises, which will take place in May, said yesterday the commander in chief of NATO forces in Europe, Chris Cavoli.
More than 50 ships, including aircraft carriers and destroyers, will participate, as well as more than 80 fighter jets, helicopters and drones, and at least 1.100 combat vehicles, including 133 tanks and 533 armored personnel carriers, the Alliance said.
Kavoli, as reported by Reuters, said that NATO will practice the execution of regional plans, the first defense plans that the Alliance has made in recent decades, in which it is elaborated in detail in order to respond to Russia's attack.
NATO did not directly mention Russia in the statement, but in the main strategic document, Russia is recognized as the most significant and direct threat to the security of NATO members.
"The exercise will demonstrate NATO's ability to rapidly deploy troops from North America and other parts of the Alliance to strengthen the defense of Europe," NATO said.
The reinforcement will take place during a "simulation scenario of the outbreak of a conflict with an opponent of similar strength", Kavoli told reporters in Brussels after a two-day meeting of national heads of diplomacy.
The last exercises of similar scale are "Reforger" (Return of Forces to Germany) during the Cold War when 125 people participated and "Trident Juncture" in 000 with 2018 participants.
Soldiers from NATO countries and Sweden, which hopes to join the military alliance soon, will participate in the exercises, reports Reuters.
The allies made regional plans at the Vilnius 2023 summit, ending a long era in which NATO saw no need for large-scale defense plans while Western countries fought smaller wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and were convinced that post-Soviet Russia no longer posed an existential threat. a threat.
During the second part of the exercise, special emphasis will be placed on the deployment of NATO forces for rapid action in Poland. Other important locations for the exercises will be the Baltic states, which are considered the most vulnerable to a potential Russian attack, Germany - a hub for the arrival of reinforcements - and countries on the fringes of the alliance such as Norway and Romania.
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