NATO launches Steadfast Defender 2024, its largest exercise since the end of the Cold War

NATO has launched Steadfast Defender 2024, its largest exercise since the end of the Cold War, involving more than 90,000 troops from all Allies and Sweden, news agencies report. The exercise runs until the end of May and spans an area from North America to the Alliance's eastern flank.

According to NATO, it involves more than 50 ships, from aircraft carriers to destroyers, more than 80 fighter jets, helicopters and drones, and some 1,100 combat vehicles, including 133 tanks and 533 infantry fighting vehicles. The largest contingents come from the United Kingdom, with about 20,000 troops, Poland with 15,000, Germany with 10,000 and the Netherlands with 5,000.

Rehearsing Article 5

The exercise tests the implementation of new regional defence plans, the first of their kind since the end of the Cold War, and the rapid movement of forces from North America across the Atlantic. The scenario envisages a response to an attack on Allied territory by a near-peer adversary, triggering Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty on collective defence.