The table-top module of NATO's flagship exercise for 2021 – conducted as a so-called Command Post Exercise (CPX) – aims to train and assess the logistic commands’ ability to coordinate rapid movements of Allied forces and equipment in their crossing of the Atlantic and subsequent transition across mainland Europe.
“For the recently formed Joint Support and Enabling Command and Standing Joint Logistics Support Group, the training is a milestone on the way to full operational capability. For NATO, Steadfast Defender marks a decisive contribution to the rapid deployment of soldiers and equipment over long distances in a timely manner. This is a crucial way to deter effectively and credibly”, General Vollmer stated.
Steadfast Defender 2021 is a collective defence exercise based on an Article 5 scenario. The exercise will enhance Alliance security by maintaining NATO’s broad range of interoperability and military capabilities to deter potential adversaries and assure Allies of NATO’s ability to defend them. The geographical locations of the exercise and the scale of deployment across sea, land, air and the range of military capabilities involved reflect NATO’s resolve to deter, and where necessary, to confront and defeat, potential aggressors.
Steadfast Defender 2021 will be the first large-scale test of the Alliance’s adapted Command Structure, with the involvement of two new NATO commands – the JSEC, based in Ulm, Germany, focused on enablement and reinforcement, and the Joint Force Command Norfolk, based in the United States, focused on the Atlantic.