2,600 UK personnel to join Nato exercise amid ‘unshakeable commitment’ to bloc
Armed forces minister Luke Pollard said the Government ‘wants the UK to be Nato’s leading European nation’.
More than 2,600 UK personnel are heading to Nato’s eastern flank as part of the Government’s “unshakeable commitment” to the military bloc, the armed forces minister has said.
According to the Ministry of Defence, Exercise Steadfast Dart 25 will showcase the alliance’s readiness, capability and commitment to defend Nato territories.
The UK’s 1st Division – headquartered in York – will be in command of all of the alliance’s land forces while they are in eastern Europe.
The exercise marks the first deployment under the bloc’s new Allied Reaction Force, which replaced the Nato Response Force last year to deal “swiftly and effectively” with “any threat in an evolving security environment” during peacetime, crisis and conflict.
Luke Pollard said: “This Government wants the UK to be Nato’s leading European nation.
“Exercise Steadfast Dart demonstrates our unshakeable commitment to Nato and highlights the UK’s key leadership role in the alliance.
“As we approach the three-year anniversary of Russia’s illegal full-scale invasion of Ukraine, we must continue to strengthen our collective defences together to deter (Russian president Vladimir) Putin effectively.”
Along with more than 2,600 personnel, the UK Government has said it will contribute 730 vehicles to the exercise.
Foxhound patrol and Jackal high mobility weapons platform vehicles will be among the deployments, and they will return to the UK once two exercises are complete at the end of February.
