Defender Europe 2021 - Massive, US Army-led NATO exercise kicks off

One of the largest U.S.-Army led military exercises in decades will held from 1 May to 14 June 2021, with 28,000 total troops from 27 nations taking part. Defender Europe 2021 will include “nearly simultaneous operations across more than 30 training areas” in a dozen countries. 

DEFENDER-Europe is an annual large-scale U.S. Army-led, multinational, joint exercise designed to build readiness and interoperability between U.S., NATO and partner militaries. This year’s exercise:

• Focuses on building operational readiness and interoperability with a greater number of NATO allies and partners over a wider area of operations

• Is defensive in nature and focused on responding to crisis if necessary

• Demonstrates that the U.S. commitment to NATO is iron clad

• Integrates approximately 30,000 multinational forces from 27 nations to conduct nearly simultaneous operations across more than 30 training areas in 12 countries.

• Includes strict COVID prevention and mitigation measures, such as pre-deployment COVID testing and quarantining.

• Has significant involvement of the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy.

• Utilizes key ground and maritime routes bridging Europe, Asia and Africa

• Exercises new high-end capabilities such the new U.S. Army Security Force Assistance Brigades, air and missile defense assets and the recently reactivated V Corps

• Demonstrates our ability to serve as a strategic security partner in the western Balkans and Black Sea regions while sustaining our abilities in northern Europe, the Caucasus, Ukraine and Africa.

Timeline of DEFENDER-Europe 21:

- March - equipment from the United States will move by sea vessels to ports in five European countries.

- April - Army Prepositioned Stocks will be drawn from sites in Belgium, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands; then moved to various training areas via convoy, rail, line haul or barge. This phase of the exercise will demonstrate U.S. Army Europe and Africa’s ability to maintain a deterrent posture in northern Europe while concurrently shifting forces to other areas of the theater.

- May - The bulk of activities will occur with training events across more than 30 training areas in 14 countries and encompassing several linked and associated exercises:

o Immediate Response - more than 5,000 troops from 11 countries will spread out across 31 training areas in 13 different countries to conduct live fire training. A Joint Logistics Over-theShore operation will also occur. 

o Saber Guardian - more than 13,000 service members from 16 countries will conduct live fires and air and missile defense operations, plus a large scale medical evacuation. 

o Swift Response – will include airborne operations in Estonia, Bulgaria and Romania involving more than 7,000 troops from 11 countries. 

o African Lion - nearly 5,000 military personnel train on medical readiness, perform large-scale live-fire exercises and conduct air, maritime and forward command post training exercises. 

o Steadfast Defender - a new series of NATO exercises focused on the transatlantic reinforcement of Europe and demonstrates NATO’s capability to respond rapidly to the full spectrum of threats.

- June - a Command Post Exercise involving approximately 2,000 personnel to demonstrate the headquarters’ ability to command multinational land forces in a joint and combined training environment while maintaining real-world operations across 104 countries on two continents. DEFENDER-Europe 21 will conclude with the redeployment of U.S.-based forces and equipment. U.S. service members will clear the training areas, return prepositioned stocks, move to ports and return to home stations – fulfilling the U.S. military’s commitment to the NATO agreements.