The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on Wednesday began its biggest military exercise since the Cold War with a United States warship leaving the US for transit across the Atlantic to alliance territory in Europe, as reported by news agency AFP. The Steadfast Defender 24 exercise is the biggest since the 1988 Reforger drill during the Cold War.
More than 50 ships, aircraft carriers, and destroyers are set to take part in the exercise, along with more than 80 fighter jets, helicopters, and drones, and at least 1,100 combat vehicles, including 133 tanks and 533 infantry fighting vehicles, Reuters reported.
As per the alliance, around 90,000 troops are set to take part in the months-long Steadfast Defender 24 exercise designed to test its defences in the face of Russia's war on Ukraine. "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, as quoted by AFP.
"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." According to AFP, the exercise is designed to simulate the 31-nation alliance's response to an attack from a rival like Russia.
It will comprise a series of smaller individual drills and span from North America to NATO's eastern flank, close to the Russian border. The exercise comes as NATO has overhauled its defences 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, as reported by AFP.
As a mark of the first movement for the largest exercise, the U.S. Navy dock landing ship Gunston Hall left port on Wednesday, as reported by news agency Reuters.
Speaking on the Steadfast Defender 24 exercise, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told the state RIA news agency that “the scale of NATO's Steadfast Defender 2024 exercises marks an "irrevocable return" of the alliance to Cold War schemes,” as reported by Reuters.