With eye on Russia, NATO launches largest war games since Cold War

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has launched its largest military exercise since the Cold War, with a US warship leaving the United States for transit across the Atlantic to alliance territory in Europe.

NATO has said some 90,000 troops from the United States and other allied nations are due to join the Steadfast Defender 2024 drills that started on Wednesday and will run through May and span from North America to NATO's eastern flank, close to the Russian border.

“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,” said General Christopher Cavoli, NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe.

Cavoli stated that during the military exercise, the alliance will demonstrate its ability to reinforce the Euro-Atlantic area via trans-Atlantic movement of forces from North America, focusing on the threat as a “near-peer” adversary.

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The exercise is designed to simulate the 31-nation alliance's response to an attack from a rival like Russia. While NATO did not directly name Russia as the target behind the drills, its top strategic document identifies Russia as the most significant and direct threat to NATO members' security.

More than 50 ships, including aircraft carriers and destroyers, will take part in the war games, as well as more than 80 fighter jets, helicopters and drones and at least 1,100 combat vehicles, including 133 tanks and 533 infantry fighting vehicles.

“Today launched its biggest military exercise since 1988 with 90,000 personnel taking part in drills across the North Atlantic and Europe,” Matthias Eichenlaub, a NATO spokesperson, said on X platform formerly Twitter.

#NATO today launched its biggest military exercise since 1988 with 90,000 personnel taking part in drills across the North Atlantic and Europe. The departure of the @USNavy's Gunston Hall from Norfolk marked the offical start of #SteadfastDefender24 https://t.co/NwxXUc1Auw pic.twitter.com/tSwmWcljXk

— Matthias Eichenlaub (@MattEichenlaub) January 24, 2024

During the second part of the Steadfast Defender exercise, a special focus will be on the deployment of NATO's quick reaction force to Poland on the alliance's eastern flank.

Other major locations of the drills will be the Baltic States, Germany, Norway and Romania, which are seen as most at risk from a potential Russian attack.

The exercise, the biggest since the 1988 Reforger drill during the Cold War, comes as NATO reinforce the defense of Europe after Russia’s military operation on Ukraine began in 2022.

Russia has reacted to the military drill, calling it an “irrevocable return” of the alliance to Cold War schemes, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told the state RIA news agency in remarks published on Sunday.

Since the start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, NATO countries have sharply increased their military budgets. The countries have also been delivering billions of dollars worth of arms to Ukraine and have pledged to help Kiev militarily in its war against Moscow.

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