NATO has started the largest NATO exercise since the end of the cold war involving 90,000 service members from 31 NATO allies and Sweden. It will test the ability of the alliance to quickly deploy forces and will test NATO’s new defense plans. The first segment in the exercise began yesterday as the dock landing ship USS Gunston Hall sailed from Norfolk, Virginia. Following a series of operations, the ship will sail across the Atlantic.
The overall exercises will consist of a series of national and multinational large-scale, live exercises conducted across various geographical locations. The exercise will take place primarily in Finland, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden and the United Kingdom, officials said. There will be more than 50 naval assets, including aircraft carriers, destroyers, frigates and corvettes. Air assets will include F-35s, FA-18s, Harriers, F-15s, helicopters and myriad unmanned aerial vehicles. There will also be more than 1,100 combat vehicles, including more than 150 tanks, 500 infantry fighting vehicles and 400 armored personnel carriers.
Officials said the exercise is based on a fictitious Article 5 scenario “triggered by a fictitious attack against the alliance launched by a near-peer adversary,” officials said. “NATO exercises are not directed against any country. In an unpredictable security environment, we must remain ready to deter all threats and to defend all allies.”
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