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NATO tests its ability to reinforce Europe in a crisis with massive trans-Atlantic operation

NATO tests its ability to reinforce Europe in a crisis with massive trans-Atlantic operation


It was a kind of exercise that took place regularly in the deepest and darkest depths of the Cold War with the former Soviet Union.

In fact, it has been almost four decades since NATO practiced as a complex organizational and logistical task the rapid movement of troops and equipment across a potentially hostile Atlantic Ocean to strengthen Europe.

Over the past two weeks, warships, submarines and aircraft belonging to the Western military alliance have been fighting method to keep sea lines of communication open in the event of fighting in Europe.

The exercise, known as the Sustainable Protector 2021, has unfolded in three phases.

HMCS Halifax being greeted by a Spanish sailor during the NATO Sustainable Defender Exercise. (US Defense Video Information Dissemination Service / Spanish Navy Officer Laura Pons Miles)

The 2nd Newly Reformed U.S. Fleet, stationed in Norfolk, Virginia, was responsible for receiving troops and equipment safely between the ports of North America and Europe. Most of the activity took place in the waters near Portugal.

“The Atlantic, for most of my career, has been the undisputed space,” said Canadian Admiral Steve Waddell, who led the naval exercise at sea and also serves with the Americans as commander of the U.S. Second Fleet. “Since the end of the Cold War, it has been quite good in terms of free movement of goods, trade and information.”

Because of the resurgence power competition in recent years, he said, NATO sees the need for its members to prepare to work together in an Atlantic theater that may not be so good in the future.

Shortly before the coronavirus pandemic hit in February 2020, the U.S. Navy conducted its initial training exercise which focused on organizing a convoy to help Europe in an emergency, the first time since 1986 that such an exercise was on stage.

The NATO exercise took that concept to the next level over the past two weeks, with 20 ships from 11 nations, including the Canadian frigate HMCS Halifax. Over 5,000 sailors, marines, aviators and other military personnel from across the alliance took part in the exercise, the first phase of which ended on Sunday.

HMCS Halifax participating in NATO Exercise Sustainable Defender in waters near Portugal in mid-May, 2021. (US Defense Visual Information Dissemination Service)

The commanders and their ships ran various scenarios in real time, including one involving defense against submarines. This reflects NATO’s focus on protecting the Trans-Atlantic fiber-optic cables on which most of the Western world trade moves.

Defense analysts see those cables as a point of strategic vulnerability, especially given the dominance of the digital economy. Russia’s ability to manipulate seabed cables has been a growing source of concern.

“Today’s environment is multi-field,” Waddell said. “We consider not only the immediate surface of the water and the sub-surface where the submarines operate. Now we consider [the domain] to be from the bottom of the sea in space “.

Among the other warships that took part was Britain’s newest aircraft carrier, Queen HMS Elizabeth, with its F-35B stealth aircraft complement.

The next phase of the exercise will test NATO’s ability to coordinate and quickly deploy troops and equipment deployed across Europe. At the same time, the alliance’s 4,000-strong, Turkish-led high-level preparedness task force will be deployed to Romania to complete the exercise.

Canadian Sailors Participating in the NATO Sustainable Defender Exercise. (US Defense Video Information Dissemination Service)

The exercise comes ahead of a summit between US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin. It is also unfolding following Russia’s recent announcement that it will permanently deploy a large military force on its western border and reactivate a dormant Cold War-era military command to control and coordinate those forces.

Although Russialikely kept notes in the exercise, Waddell said the NATO fleet did not have any direct communication with the Russian military during the exercise.

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