NATO Exercise Steadfast Defender
Steadfast Defender 24 is NATO's largest military exercise since the end of the Cold War. A total of 90,000 troops from all 32 NATO Allies are taking part. The Netherlands is present with a contingent of over 5,000 troops, 1,000 combat vehicles and two ships. The participants will be drilled in what will need to be done if a NATO Ally is attacked.
Steadfast Defender
Steadfast Defender is a series of NATO exercises held at three-year intervals, the first of which took place in 2021. Steadfast Defender 2024 consists of various NATO Ally exercises intended to prepare for what happens if Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty is invoked in the event of an attack on a NATO Ally. NATO allies consider an attack against one of them to be an attack against them all.
Dutch Contingent
The Netherlands is taking part through the deployment of elements of the three army combat brigades that fall under the umbrella of the Dutch-German partnership and will be participating in three of the four German exercises organised as part of QUADRIGA 2024.
In April, 43 Mechanised Brigade will practise moving large army units over long distances in the Grand Center exercise, with 13 Light Armoured Brigade and Operational Support Command (Land) doing the same as part of the Grand Quadriga exercise, using more than 1,000 vehicles, including 175 armoured personnel carriers. The brigades will move from the Netherlands to Lithuania via Germany and Poland.
In May, 11 Airmobile Brigade will practise air mobile manoeuvres in Hungary and Romania as part of the Swift Response exercise.
The Royal Netherlands Navy will participate by deploying 300 navy personnel and 500 crew members of two ships, the HNLMS Johan de Witt and the HNLMS Karel Doorman. The Royal Netherlands Air Force will support the Navy with two NH90 maritime combat helicopters. In March, they will take part in the British multinational exercise Joint Warrior and the Norwegian amphibious exercise Nordic Response. In February, the ships will depart from Den Helder headed for the Norwegian coast.
NATO
NATO is a partnership of North American and European nations (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization/North Atlantic Alliance). The Alliance will celebrate its 75th anniversary in 2024.