Steadfast Defender 24: NATO’s Largest Military Exercise since the Cold War with 90,000 Soldiers

2024-01-18 17:20:16

NATO has officially announced that next week the largest military exercise of the North Atlantic Alliance since the end of the Cold War will begin, with the participation of approximately 90,000 soldiers who will train for the possibility of a Russian attack on one of the member states.

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At the end of two days of discussions by the Chiefs of Staff of the Allied countries in Brussels, it was announced that the “Steadfast Defender 24” exercise will include approximately 90,000 soldiers from 31 Allied countries and Sweden, the largest number since the end of the Cold War more than three decades ago The largest exercise that took place so far was in the Norway area in 2018 with 51 thousand soldiers.

The exercise is expected to include at least 80 aircraft and 50 ships and more than a thousand armored vehicles. It will be spread across Europe with a focus on the eastern flank, facing Russia. The German news agency reported that the focus of the exercise will be the scenario of a Russian attack on one of the member states and the activation of Article 5 of the NATO treaty, which states that an armed attack on one of the states is an attack on all of them.

“The alliance will demonstrate its ability to strengthen the Euro-Atlantic region through the movement of forces across the ocean from North America,” said NATO’s military commander, Chris Cavoli. Because of this, Schaafs announced the largest deployment of British ground forces within NATO in 40 years in the first half of this year.

Vladimir Putin speaks: “Almost the entire military potential of NATO is used against Russia”, photo: Reuters

They will also take part in the “Steadfast Defender 24” exercise that the alliance will hold in Eastern Europe next month with the participation of all 31 member states and Sweden. This is one of the largest NATO exercises since the end of the Cold War and the largest since the beginning of the war in Ukraine about two years ago.

Earlier this week, the British Defense Minister announced, Grant Shappsbecause his country will deploy 20,000 military personnel as part of the exercise, including 16,000 soldiers from the ground army, the largest number of British ground personnel to be deployed within NATO in 40 years. The forces will remain until June with tanks, artillery and helicopters.

The Royal Navy will also send the aircraft carrier Queen Elizabeth with F-35s and the battle group that includes destroyers and frigates, along with submarines and marine commando fighters to be stationed in the Arctic. The Royal Air Force will also send F-35s and Poseidon jets to gather intelligence.