BRUSSELS, Belgium - Senior NATO military leaders met at NATO Headquarters in Brussels Oct. 8-9 to coordinate and communicate details on the largest NATO exercise in recent years.
A live portion of the exercise begins Oct. 25 and ends Nov. 7 in and around Norway. All 29-member NATO member nations will participate, along with partner nations Sweden and Finland.
"We are boiling down Trident Juncture to a core theme of just a few words,” said Adm. James Foggo, commander of Trident Juncture and JFC Naples. "I call it the three ‘Ds’: NATO is a ‘defensive’ alliance, Trident Juncture ‘demonstrates’ our credible capability, and together we ‘deter’ potential adversaries.”
"The exercise will give us the opportunity to test, evaluate, further develop our Total Defence Concept, as well as national reception plans,” said Lieutenant General Rune Jakobsen, Norway’s Joint Force Headquarters commander. "During the exercise, the regional forces will cooperate closely with civil emergency services, the police, the railway, port and transportation authorities, as well as with local and national businesses. The size and complexity of the exercise ensure a very realistic stress test for everybody.”
A significant portion of the exercise will test NATO’s ability to move forces in and out of Norway.
"When we talk about over 10 thousand vehicles on Norway’s roads, that will present a traffic control challenge that will stress-test the system,” said Lieutenant General Christian Juneau, who will control the exercise for NATO in Stavanger, Norway. "The second point I want to make is the weather in Norway, in late October-early November, will be a factor, for sure. As a Canadian I know what it can look like in a northern country during that time of the year. They have already had some snow in Norway, so that will certainly be stressing the movement control in our logistics, as well.”
A command post portion of Trident Juncture runs Nov. 14-24 in Naples, with a smaller element in Stavanger, Norway. It will train and test JFC Naples in order to certify it to command and control the NATO Response Force in 2019.
Story by JFC Naples Public Affairs Office