An M1A2 Abrams tank from the 5th Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, stands ready during training in Adazi, Latvia Dec. 8, 2017. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Hubert D. Delany III/22nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment)

Parachute reserves are laid out for accountability during Exercise Swift Response 25 at Riga International Airport, Latvia, May 17, 2025. Demonstrating global deterrence and the U.S. Army’s ability to rapidly deploy U.S.-based combat power in Europe and the Arctic region alongside Allies and partners, DEFENDER 25 brings U.S. troops together with forces from 29 Allied and partner nations to build readiness through large-scale combat training from May 11-June 24, 2025. DEFENDER 25 increases the lethality of the NATO alliance through large-scale tactical training maneuvers and long-range fires, builds unit readiness in a complex joint, multinational environment and leverages host nation capabilities to increase the U.S. Army’s operational reach. During three large-scale combat training exercises—Swift Response, Immediate Response, and Saber Guardian—Ally and partner forces integrate and expand multi-domain operations capability, demonstrating combined command and control structures and readiness to respond to crisis and conflict. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Randis Monroe)

NATO’s largest military exercise since 2018, Exercise Steadfast Defender 2021, has begun with a maritime operation off Portugal, a logistics exercise in southern Germany and a rapid reaction exercise in central Romania. Exercise Steadfast Defender 2021, which is designed to improve the Alliance’s defensive capabilities, includes over 9,000 air, land, maritime and special operations forces from more than 20 Allies and partners training together.

A line of military Heavy Equipment Transport line-haul trucks is staged at Coleman work site in Mannheim, Germany. Each truck is hauling equipment and vehicles, such as M1 Abrams main battle tanks as seen here, to Grafenwoehr Training Area in Germany. There, the vehicles and equipment pieces will be issued to the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division deploying to Germany from Fort Stewart, Georgia. (U.S. Army Photo by Maj. Allan Laggui)

U.S. Army Soldiers assigned to the 41st Field Artillery Brigade prepare for an approximate 50-mile convoy during Exercise Dynamic Front 2022 (DF22) from Grafenwoehr to Hohenfels training areas, in Germany, July 11, 2022. DF22, led by 56th Artillery Command and U.S. Army Europe and Africa directed, is the premier U.S.-led, NATO Allied and Partner-integrated fires exercise in the European theater focusing on fires interoperability and increasing readiness, lethality and interoperability across the human, procedural, and technical domains. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Joshua Casson)

A U.S. Army M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, from 3rd Battalion, 321 Field Artillery Regiment, attached to 41st Field Artillery Brigade, fires a rocket as part of Nordic Strike 22, at Vidsel Test Range, Sweden, Sept. 27, 2022. U.S. Army Europe and Africa possesses the organic ability to integrate these long-range precision fires rapidly, with partner nations, during exercises, like Nordic Strike 22, and potential conflict to deliver scalable joint fires in support of U.S. and partner nations’ operations anywhere in Europe, Africa and beyond. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Devin Klecan)