Thirty-one NATO countries and Sweden are to conduct in 2024 the biggest NATO military exercises since the Cold War, UK newspaper the Financial Times reports, citing its sources in the defensive alliance.
About 41,000 military personnel, between 500 to 700 air combat missions, more than 50 ships from all NATO member states and Sweden are expected to take part in the exercises, which will practice repelling Russian aggression against one of the alliance’s members. The exercises will be held in Germany, Poland and the Baltic states in February and March 2024. The exercises will be fully modern in terms of technical capabilities, with the allied militaries using real geographic data to create more realistic scenarios.
The NATO troops will also practice countering terrorist threats beyond the borders of the alliance’s member states, the Financial Times writes.
Meanwhile, NATO member states have started extensive exercises along the northern coast of the Baltic Sea, rehearsing maneuvers the defensive alliance would carry out in the event of a Russian attack, Estonian news website ERR reported on Sept. 9.
NATO’s Steadfast Pyramid 2023 and Steadfast Pinnacle planning exercises are to start in Riga, Latvia, Latvian news agency Delfi reported on Sept. 3.
