From Monika Scislowska, AP:  Hundreds of NATO troops with heavy equipment began a military exercise in Poland on Tuesday, testing the alliance’s rapid response readiness in the face of new security challenges on its eastern flank….

The deployment exercise began with German and Dutch troops arriving near the southwestern Polish city of Zielona Gora to test the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force. It will soon move to a test range in nearby Zagan, where more than 2,000 troops will train.

A mobilization exercise was held in April in the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. The current exercise tests deployment procedures by road, rail and air.

From Allied Command Operations:  NATO will continue the process of testing and refinement of the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF) during part two of Exercise NOBLE JUMP, from 9 to 19 June 2015 in Zagan, Poland….

The VJTF is being established as a part of an overall enhancement to the NATO Response Force in order to address new security challenges on NATO’s southern and eastern peripheries. Exercise NOBLE JUMP represents the first time that high-readiness units will deploy and conduct tactical manoeuvers under the new VJTF framework. As such, this event represents a learning process that will allow NATO military staff to identify both successes and shortfalls during the early stages of the development process. Increasingly complex exercises, trials, and evaluations will be conducted throughout 2015 and 2016 in order to develop, refine and implement the VJTF concept into the framework of the NATO Response Force….

All of these exercises are defensive and are a part of NATO’s assurance measures in response to challenges on NATO’s southern and eastern periphery. The activity will focus on enhancing interoperability, readiness and responsiveness among Allied and partner nations.

Image: Czech soldiers participating in 1st Noble Jump exercise, April 9, 2015 (photo: NATO/USAF Sgt. Andrew Davis))