NATO holds largest exercise in 13 years

NATO mobilizes troops from more than 30 countries to test its ability to respond to new threats.

According to AP, NATO Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow said at the opening ceremony on October 19 that the Trident Juncture exercise would demonstrate that NATO "can deal with everything from conventional warfare to more sophisticated hybrid warfare techniques."

NATO aircraft during an exercise. Photo: Reuters

The city of Trapani in Sicily, Italy, will be the center of operations for the exercise, which will begin tomorrow and run until early November, extending into Spain, Portugal and surrounding waters, involving 36,000 soldiers, sailors and airmen.

The exercise simulates a hypothetical invasion by a country with small coalition members, causing a religious and ethnic crisis, threatening energy supplies and freedom of navigation with the risk of terrorism and cyber attacks.

At a press conference, Vershbow denied that the hypothetical aggressor was Russia. "Some of the challenges we're putting on and testing our forces are not similar to the challenges we would face if we were in conflict with Russia," he said.

According to VNE