NATO headquarters
NATO’s largest military drill since the Cold War began on Wednesday, with a US warship leaving the United States to transit over the Atlantic to alliance territory in Europe.
The Western military alliance has stated approximately 90,000 troops will take part in the months-long Steadfast Defender 24 exercise aimed at testing its defences in the face of Russia’s conflict with Ukraine.
“The alliance will demonstrate its ability to reinforce the Euro-Atlantic area via trans-Atlantic movement of forces from North America”, stated General Christopher Cavoli, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander in Europe.
“Steadfast Defender 2024 will be a clear demonstration of our unity, strength, and determination to protect each other, our values, and the rules-based international order”, Cavoli added.
The drill is intended to replicate the 31-nation alliance’s response to an attack by a foe such as Russia.
It will be made up of a series of smaller individual drills that will extend from North America to NATO’s eastern flank, near the Russian border.
50 navy vessels, 80 aircraft, and more than 1,100 combat vehicles will participate.
The exercise, the largest since the Cold War’s 1988 Reforger drill, comes as NATO has updated its fortifications following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
To defend itself against a Russian attack, the alliance has moved thousands of troops to its eastern flank and devised its most comprehensive preparations since the Soviet Union’s demise.
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