NATO exercise Steadfast Defender 2021 kicks off this month, bringing together more than 20 NATO Allies and partners from North America and Europe1. “Exercise Steadfast Defender 2021 will test NATO’s readiness and military mobility – with forces deploying across land and sea, all the way from North America to the Black Sea region and off the coast of Portugal,” said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. “With over 9,000 troops, the exercise demonstrates that NATO has the capabilities and the resolve to protect all Allies against any threat,” he added.
Steadfast Defender 2021 will be the first large-scale test of NATO’s adapted Command Structure, with the involvement of two new NATO commands – Joint Support and Enabling Command based in Ulm, Germany and Joint Force Command Norfolk, based in the United States.
At a virtual press conference today (6 May 2021) moderated by the NATO Spokesperson Oana Lungescu, Lieutenant General Brice Houdet, Vice Chief of Staff at NATO Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) previewed the preparations and objectives of the exercise. He was joined by Colonel James Scott from Allied Joint Force Command Naples, Italy, Rear Admiral Andrew Betton, Deputy Commander of NATO Joint Force Command Norfolk, in the United States, Lieutenant General Jürgen Knappe, Commander of NATO’s Joint Support and Enabling Command in Ulm, Germany, and Major Jean François Lelubre from SHAPE.
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