- Статьи
- Army
- Romania's frontier: what NATO troops are going to practice at the Steadfast Dart 2025 exercise
Romania's frontier: what NATO troops are going to practice at the Steadfast Dart 2025 exercise
NATO's Steadfast Dart 2025 exercise, which starts today at the Romanian training grounds, will practice the deployment of a new response force. Their task is to quickly strengthen the alliance's eastern flank. The maneuvers will involve about 10 thousand military personnel from nine NATO member countries, 17 naval assets, more than 20 aircraft and 1.5 thousand units of equipment. Romania was chosen because of the situation in Moldova and Transnistria, which makes the collective West think about strengthening this flank, military experts believe. What maneuvers will be practiced by the alliance soldiers and which countries will take part in them - in the material of "Izvestia".
The purpose of NATO exercises Steadfast Dart 2025
Large-scale NATO exercise Steadfast Dart 2025 will be held until February 26, according to the press service of the alliance. Actions will be deployed at seven firing ranges in Romania.
The purpose of the maneuvers is to test "deployment capabilities and procedures, as well as interoperability between troop-contributing and troop-receiving countries."
Thus, they will involve about 10 thousand soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines from nine countries - members of the alliance: Bulgaria, Britain, Greece, Italy, Spain, Romania, Slovenia, France, Greece, Italy, Spain, Turkey and Turkey. Also, 17 naval assets will be used, including landing ships, frigates, mine defense ships, destroyers and submarines; more than 20 aircraft, including EF-2000, F-16, AV-8B HARRIER, A400; more than 1.5 thousand units of military equipment, including tanks, rocket launchers, self-propelled artillery systems, infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers.
During the exercise, the deployment of the new NATO Allied Reaction Force, whose task is to "rapidly reinforce the eastern flank" of the alliance, will be practiced. This will be their first exercise after their creation on July 1, 2024. The scenario simulates the occurrence of a "conflict with an almost equal adversary."
According to the staff of the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, it should show that the ARF is capable of "complex operations at a distance of thousands of kilometers in Eastern Europe and in any environment."
Steadfast Dart 2025 will be led by the UK. It is emphasized that "this important exercise will demonstrate the Alliance's readiness, capability and commitment to defend every inch of NATO territory."
Why Romania was chosen for the exercise
According to experts, the front in Ukraine has started to crumble, and NATO realizes it. That is why they are trying to create an eastern rampart at more distant borders from Russia.
- Most likely, according to their plan, it will go through Romania, Moldavia and Poland," suggested Roman Shkurlatov, chairman of the board of the all-Russian organization "Officers of Russia," a lieutenant colonel in the reserve. - All the North Atlantic Alliance exercises that have been held in recent years, especially after the start of the special military operation, are of a very applied nature and with a clearly defined enemy. This is the Russian Federation, of course.
According to him, the alliance draws certain conclusions from the combat operations in the zone of the Strategic Air Defense Forces and makes adjustments to the scenarios of its exercises. In particular, they are adding the use of unmanned aircraft and putting more emphasis on assault operations.
- The choice of Romania is understandable," the expert said. - It is indeed a NATO support hub on the southern border. The situation in Moldova and Transnistria today forces the collective West to strengthen this flank. They realize that a new point of tension is possible there after Ukraine. There is also a fairly large number of NATO bases in Romania.
Military expert Viktor Litovkin agrees that the situation in Moldova is unstable now.
- NATO can introduce its troops, which creates certain risks for us," he said. - Now there are only Romanian and Bulgarian ships in the Black Sea. Turkey does not allow others there, having blocked the Bosporus and the Dardanelles. Therefore, the exercises will take place mainly on land.
But they will definitely be directed against Russia. NATO has such a principle - to contain us, summarized the expert.
What other exercises will be held in Romania in 2025
Exercise Steadfast Dart 2025 is not the only one that will be held this year in Romania. In April and May, the Navy Headquarters will hold Sea Shield 2025, where it is planned to practice regaining control over maritime communications.
Last year, these maneuvers involved more than 2,200 servicemen, 135 ships, aircraft and vehicles from 13 countries - members of the North Atlantic Alliance, namely: Bulgaria, France, Georgia, Greece, Italy, Great Britain, Moldova, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Turkey, the United States and Romania.
They took place then in the Black Sea, in the coastal zone, on the river and in the Danube delta. Military personnel were trained to combat illegal activities on the sea and rivers, maritime and river patrols, search and rescue, assisting vessels in distress and securing critical infrastructure.
