BRUSSELS, Belgium (BulgarianMilitary.com) – NATO’s biggest military exercise in recent years, as reported, Trident Juncture 18, starts today, 25th October 2018. It will take place in central and eastern Norway; the surrounding areas of the North Atlantic and the Baltic Sea, including Iceland and the Swedish and Finnish airspaces and will continue till 7th November 2018 involving around 50,000 participants from NATO’s 29 member states plus Sweden and Finland, learned BulgarianMilitary.com

By comparison with the Strong Resolve exercise in Poland in 2002 that involved the Alliance members and 11 partner states, this time the number of the soldiers who will participate is about 10,000 more.

The commander of the NATO’s Allied Joint Force Command Naples Admiral James G. Foggo will be responsible for conducting the exercise. The top five contributing nations are the United States, Germany, Norway, Britain and Sweden, in the order they are listed.

The objective of the exercise is to ensure that NATO forces are trained, to test the ability personnel from NATO Allies and partner countries to operate together and their readiness to respond to any threat from any direction so that to defend the populations and territories and deter potential adversaries. It will happen in the air, on land and at sea and around 250 aircraft, 65 vessels (including the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman) and up to 10,000 vehicles will be involved.

Read more: Eight NATO member countries will take part in the biggest exercise held in Novo Selo, Bulgaria

Having in mind the big number of the participants, excellent logistics is required for housing, feeding and supporting so many troops. For that purpose the Norwegian army has ensured 35,000 extra beds.

It is not always easy to be completely prepared. In that connection, an interesting piece of news reported by the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf isthat the Dutch army forgot to buy warm clothing for its 1,000 soldiers taking part in Trident Juncture 18. When it suddenly remembered that the weather could get quite cold in Norway in late October, it was too late for organizing a tender procedure for the needed items. That is why each soldier was given a little sum to buy what would he/she need for that purpose.

Read more: The First of Four Red Flag-Alaska Exercises Scheduled for 2018 Was Held

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Source: NATO, Shephard Media