NATO launches the largest military exercise in Europe since the Cold War
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is organizing the largest military exercises on the European continent since the end of the Cold War. Approximately 90,000 troops from 32 member states are taking part in these maneuvers, which will last until the end of May, Le Monde writes.
The article states that these exercises are a response to Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and the threats Russia poses to NATO’s allies on the eastern flank.
According to the report, the participants in these large-scale maneuvers, which will last until May 31, are using approximately 1,100 pieces of armored vehicles, including 166 battle tanks, from 32 countries.
The territory for the exercise is mainly the plains of Poland and Norway, as well as the territories of Germany, the Baltic States, Romania, Finland, Slovakia, Greece and Sweden.
“This is the largest deployment of troops since Exercise Reforger in 1988, which involved 125,000 people,” said U.S. General Randolph Staudenraus, head of NATO’s operational command in the Netherlands.
Steadfast Defender-24 is also the first implementation of NATO’s updated defense plans, which were developed in response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and adopted at the NATO Summit in Vilnius in July 2023.
Also, on March 4, another major NATO military exercise called Nordic Response 24, led by Norway, started in northern Finland, Sweden and Norway.
