‘Steadfast Defender 24’, NATO’s largest exercise since the Cold War, kicks off

NATO’s Exercise ‘Steadfast Defender 24’ began on 24 January 2024. Planned to highlight and exercise NATO’s ability to deploy forces rapidly from North America and other parts of the Alliance to reinforce the defence of Europe, it is the largest NATO exercise since the last ‘Reforger’ exercise near the end of the Cold War.

Running until 31 May, ‘Steadfast Defender 24’ is NATO’s principal multi-domain exercise for 2024 and will consist of a series of national and multinational large-scale, live exercises conducted across various geographical locations.

The exercise will involve around 90,000 personnel from the armed forces of 31 NATO allies plus Sweden and will take place primarily in Finland, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden and the United Kingdom. More than 1,100 combat vehicles will be deployed for the manoeuvres, including 166 tanks, 533 infantry fighting vehicles and 417 armoured personnel carriers, according to a NATO fact sheet

There will also be more than 50 naval assets, including aircraft carriers, destroyers, frigates and corvettes, and more than 80 air assets, including F-35s, F/A-18s, Harriers, F-15s, helicopters and myriad unmanned aerial vehicles.

The last equivalent large-scale NATO exercises were ‘Reforger’ in 1988, which involved 125,000 military personnel, and Exercise ‘Trident Juncture 2018’, which involved 50,000.

“’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,” US Army General Christopher G Cavoli, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, was quoted as saying in a NATO press release.

The exercise is officially based on a fictitious Article 5 scenario “triggered by a fictitious attack against the alliance launched by a near-peer adversary”, according to alliance officials.

However, given that Russia has launched the largest conflict in Europe since the Second World War in invading neighbouring Ukraine, ‘Steadfast Defender’ will inevitably incorporate defence plans based on Russia’s actions.

“Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine will shape our understanding of conflict for years to come,” a NATO official was quoted as saying in a US Department of Defense press release in the exercise. “NATO is observing the conflict in Ukraine closely in order to improve our readiness and refine our future training, capabilities and innovation.”