2024-01-20 02:19 Compiled by Gao Yixuan/Comprehensive Report from United Daily News NATO will launch the largest military exercise in decades, investing a huge number of troops, aircraft, ships and combat vehicles. Pictured is its member country Romani…
The Russia-Ukraine war, which has been raging for nearly two years, is reaching a stalemate. NATO announced on the 18th that starting next week it will carry out its largest military exercises since the Cold War, with 31 member states and Sweden, which is expected to join the membership, participating. The exercise will involve up to 90,000 troops. The exercise will last until the end of May and will test NATO’s defense capabilities and how the U.S. military can assist NATO’s eastern flank allies in the event of a conflict with Russia.
According to reports from Reuters, Associated Press, AFP and US Newsweek, this large-scale military exercise, codenamed “Resolute Defender”, will also mobilize more than 50 naval ships from aircraft carriers to destroyers and more than 80 fighter jets , helicopters, drones and other military aircraft, as well as at least 1,100 combat vehicles such as 133 tanks and 533 infantry fighting vehicles. The scale is as large as 125,000 people since the Cold War in 1988. The “Reforger” exercise participated in was the largest ever; the “Trident Joint Military Exercise” in 2018 involved a total of 50,000 people.
British Defense Secretary Shapps announced on the 15th that about 20,000 people will be sent to participate in the exercise. 16,000 army troops will be stationed in Eastern Europe from February to June. An aircraft strike group and vertical take-off and landing F-35B stealth fighters will also be dispatched. and reconnaissance aircraft.
The military exercise, which coincides with the 75th anniversary of the founding of NATO, will focus on how the collective defense organization dispatches rapid reaction forces to its eastern ally Poland in the event of “an emergency.” Other important locations for the exercises include the Baltic allies, which are considered to be at the highest risk of Russian aggression, as well as Germany, where reinforcements are at the core, and NATO border countries such as Norway and Romania.
NATO stated that the military exercise is designed to demonstrate its ability to conduct and sustain complex multi-domain operations that last for several months and span thousands of kilometers from south to north, and simulate a conflict with an enemy of similar strength. Although the statement did not name Russia, its new defense plan identified its main opponents as Russia and terrorist organizations. Although NATO has not directly assisted Ukraine, it has provided non-lethal assistance to Kiev, and many of its member states have provided arms or military training to the Ukrainian army individually or collectively.
Cavoli, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander in Europe and commander of the U.S. Army’s European Command, said that this military exercise will exercise NATO’s ability to implement its regional plans. The relevant plans are the first wave of defense plans developed by NATO in recent decades. Last year’s NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania approved it, detailing how to respond to a Russian attack. Previously, Western countries thought that Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union no longer posed an existential threat to Europe and the United States, so there was no need for a large-scale defense plan.
Chairman of the NATO Military Committee Paul Ball mentioned that the scale of this exercise reflects NATO’s new level of war preparedness, but it also warns civil society in NATO countries that they should be more fully prepared for the possibility of war with Russia and not take peace for granted. The Russian army has been severely depleted in the Russo-Ukrainian War, but its navy and air force are still considerable, and it is working hard to increase the production of artillery and missiles.
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2024-01-19 18:19:40
