Trident Juncture 15 will take place in October and November, mainly in Spain, Italy and Portugal.
It’s one of a series of long-planned exercises to ensure that NATO Allies are ready to deal with any emerging crisis, from any direction, and that they are able to work effectively with partners in tackling any crisis.
Of course, this exercise takes on additional significance because of the changed security environment, that we find ourselves in, the rising challenges from both the south and the east, to which NATO is adapting, and continues to adapt.
Overall we expect over 36,000 troops from 30 nations to take part – that includes NATO Allies as well as seven partner nations. And those partner nations are Australia, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Finland, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Sweden and Ukraine.
The exercise will also demonstrate NATO’s ability to work with international organizations to deal with a crisis. Which is what we call the comprehensive approach.
And we have confirmed participation from the European Union, the African Union and international humanitarian organisations.
I said at the start that it’s the biggest, the most ambitious exercise that NATO has undertaken since over a decade. In fact, before you ask let me tell you that the previous biggest exercise took place in 2002. And that was the exercise preparing the NATO Response Force. It was exercise Strong Resolve which took place in Norway and Poland with over 40,000 troops from, at that time, 15 Allies ad 12 partner nations.
Finally, as all NATO exercises, Trident Juncture 15 has been planned in an open, transparent, predictable way. You would have seen it on our website for some time. It was announced over a year ago by the Secretary General, and of course international observers from all OSCE countries and several non-OSCE countries will be invited.
Excerpt from openeing remarks on NATO exercise Trident Juncture 2015 by NATO Spokesperson
Oana Lungescu, July 15, 2015.