About 9,000 U.S. troops are expected to participate in Exercise Defender 23, which begins April 22, a deputy Pentagon spokeswoman said.
“This is a nearly two-month annual exercise that focuses on the strategic deployment of U.S. forces, the use of prepositioned stocks, and interoperability issues with European allies and partners,” Sabrina Singh said. during a briefing at the Pentagon.
The Defender 23 exercise is led by the US Army Europe and Africa Command and was scheduled for 2021.
The exercise is designed to demonstrate the U.S. military’s ability to rapidly deploy combat-ready troops and equipment to reassure allies to deter those who threaten peace in Europe and protect the continent from aggression, the Pentagon.
The exercise is also expected to demonstrate European countries’ commitment to increasing the scale, capability and interoperability of their armed forces.
“About 9,000 U.S. troops and about 17,000 troops from 26 allied and partner nations will participate in the exercise, some of which will take place in 10 European countries,” Singh said.
Singh said exercise support equipment started arriving in Spain this week.
According to her, about 7,000 pieces of equipment were sent to the European theater from the United States.
In addition, about 13,000 pieces of equipment from pre-established stocks will be used during the Zashchitnik-23 exercises.
In addition to the United States, service members from Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom.
