First NATO exercise of 2025 set to begin with others to quickly follow
British Army Wolfhound mine-protected vehicles, one shown here at Exercise Spring Storm in 2023, are being deployed to Exercise Steadfast Dart 25. (Photo: UK Ministry of Defence/Crown Copyright)
Exercise Steadfast Dart 25 (STDT25) kicks off a slate of six land and sea exercises NATO is conducting in the first half of this year.
Deployments have begun for Exercise STDT25, NATO’s first large exercise of the year, with a continued focus on the alliance’s eastern flank.
STDT25 has been described by NATO as “focusing on the planning and execution of a pre-crisis multi-domain activity with the aim to reinforce the allied forces located in Romania and Bulgaria”. It is a joint deployment exercise scheduled by Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe and conducted by Joint Forces Command Naples.
STDT25 was designed to test and train the operational deployment and reinforcement of 2024 Allied Reaction Force (ARF) elements to NATO Vigilance Area South-East under peacetime condition. It will
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