NATO Launches Largest Military Exercise Since Cold War, Braces for Direct Showdown with Moscow

LONDON, England – Across Europe, leaders call Russia the greatest and most urgent threat facing the continent. Germany’s intelligence chief warned recently that Vladimir Putin would not hesitate to attack a NATO member. That’s why the alliance is scrambling to prepare for a direct military confrontation with Moscow.
 
Dr. Simon Anglim, a leading British military expert and professor at the Department of War Studies at King’s College in London, worries that his country’s armed forces are not ready for a war with Russia.
 
“What keeps me awake at night is the possibility of direct attacks on the United Kingdom possibly by missiles or long-range bombers,” Anglim said.
 
A February report by Parliament found Britain running low on its stockpile of weapons, munitions, tanks, and other fighting equipment. Plus the military is losing personnel faster than they can recruit them. 
 
It comes amid warnings that NATO countries may have just three years to prepare for all-out war with Russia.
 
“We have virtually no defense against missile attacks, we have limited numbers of fighters to defend ourselves from bombers. This will need to be rectified if we are going to continue to take the stance that we do against Russia,” Anglim said.
 
Since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, NATO militaries have been getting ready to fight. In January, the alliance launched Steadfast Defender 24, its largest military exercise since the Cold War.
 
Kathleen McInnis of the Center for Strategic and International Studies said, “First part of Steadfast Defender 2024 is about getting things (military equipment and troops) across the Atlantic, and the second part is about trying to get stuff, once it has arrived, over to the central and eastern states in NATO.”
 
More than 90,000 troops from all 32 NATO allies are taking part in the exercise while 50 naval assets are being moved across Europe. More than 80 air platforms and 1,000-plus combat vehicles are also being deployed.
 
Don Jenson of the United States Institute of Peace told us, “This is being undertaken near the Russian border, let’s call it near the frontier line, to show the East, to show Moscow, that NATO means business.”
 
Of the 90,000 troops taking part in NATO’s Steadfast Defender, the British government here has deployed 20,000 soldiers from the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force.

The exercise will take place primarily along NATO’s eastern flank with a particular focus on countries like Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
 
“I think of all the NATO states they are the ones who are the most aware of the potential threat that they face and they have been for 30 years,” Anglim said.
 
The exercise will test the alliance on its speed in moving massive numbers of troops and equipment across the lines to defend that eastern flank. 
 
Finland, which shares an 830-mile border with Russia, joined NATO in April 2023. Sweden became the 32nd member of the alliance this week.
 
Both countries have troops deployed in the exercise. Last week, Swedish and Finnish Marines conducted amphibious operations from a U.S. Navy warship high above the Arctic Circle honing their readiness skills.
 
Captain Thomas Vuong, commanding officer of the French Navy frigate Normandie, said, “This needs a lot of coordination so that we can work together, operate together in this complex environment.”
 
Steadfast Defender is expected to last through May, aimed at showing that the alliance can defend all of its territory up to its borders with Russia.

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