NATO KICKS OFF BIGGEST MILITARY EXERCISE SINCE END OF COLD WAR

Thu 25 January 2024:

Steadfast Defender 2024, NATO’s biggest military exercise since the end of the Cold War began Wednesday with the departure of the US Navy ship USS Gunston Hall from the American Navy Base in Norfolk, Virginia, according to the alliance.

“Planned over the course of several years, Steadfast Defender 24 will highlight NATO’s ability to deploy forces rapidly from North America and other parts of the Alliance to reinforce the defence of Europe,” it said.

The exercise is designed to simulate the 31-nation alliance’s response to an attack from a rival like Russia.

It will be composed of a series of smaller individual drills and will span from North America to NATO’s eastern flank, close to the Russian border.

“The alliance will demonstrate its ability to reinforce the Euro-Atlantic area via trans-Atlantic movement of forces from North America,” said General Christopher Cavoli, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander 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.”

Some 50 naval vessels, 80 aircraft and over 1,100 combat vehicles will take part.

The exercise — the biggest since the 1988 Reforger drill during the Cold War — comes as NATO has overhauled its defenses since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The alliance has dispatched thousands of troops to its eastern flank and drawn up its most extensive plans since the collapse of the Soviet Union to protect itself from a Russian attack.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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