STAVANGER, Norway – In a powerful demonstration of unity and resolve underscoring the NATO alliance’s commitment to collective defense, nearly 5,000 personnel from all 32 NATO nations concluded Exercise Steadfast Deterrence 2025 on May 28 at the Joint Warfare Centre here and at locations across the alliance.
The exercise certified Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe as a strategic warfighting headquarters and integrated U.S. European Command into alliance-level training.
“Steadfast Deterrence strengthens NATO’s resolve to safeguard the freedom and security of its allies,” said U.S. Army Col. Michael Biankowski, U.S. senior national representative at the NATO Joint Warfare Centre. “With this exercise, the Joint Warfare Centre demonstrates its commitment to its warfighting readiness mission, ensuring that SHAPE receives the best training needed to serve as NATO’s strategic warfighting headquarters.”
NATO’s core task remains protecting one billion citizens through unified political dialogue, military preparedness and support for partner nations. By aligning NATO’s defense plans under the Deterrence and Defense of the North Atlantic Area concept, Steadfast Deterrence reaffirmed the alliance’s ability to protect and defend all allies at sea, in the air, on the ground, in cyberspace and in space.
“Exercise Steadfast Deterrence 2025 is a major milestone for NATO and the Joint Warfare Centre,” said German Army Maj. Gen. Ruprecht von Butler, commander of the NATO Joint Warfare Centre. “There are three major innovations in this exercise.”
“First, we see SHAPE as a NATO strategic warfighting headquarters. Second is the alignment and integration of SHAPE with U.S. European Command, training together as they possibly would fight,” he said. “And finally, we are exercising real elements of NATO’s defense plans under the concept for Deterrence and Defense of the North Atlantic Area.”
Von Butler went on to underscore the broader security context.
“This exercise enhances NATO’s warfighting readiness and prepares the alliance to face evolving security challenges in Europe and beyond,” said von Butler. “I’m incredibly proud of the Joint Warfare Centre team, our augmentees, and trusted agents who are making this unique exercise possible. Together we make NATO better.”
Over the 10-day exercise, SHAPE and EUCOM staff simulated large-scale conflict scenarios, testing command-and-control procedures and logistics coordination under high-pressure conditions. U.S. Army Maj. Wade Cady, JWC Team 2 wargame director, described the emphasis on convergence between the two headquarters.
“From my perspective, Steadfast Deterrence is about bringing in SHAPE as a strategic headquarters and making them into a warfighting headquarters,” Cady said. “Strengthening an organization is like muscle building. Practice is essential. It’s about reps and sets and getting the two headquarters to work together on a daily basis, which is exactly what we have done over the last 10 days.”
The exercise also operationalized key elements of NATO’s Deterrence and Defense of the Euro-Atlantic Area strategy, which enhances forward defense and resilience along NATO’s eastern flank. By embedding real elements of NATO’s defense plans into the training, Exercise Steadfast Deterrence 2025 became not only a test but a tangible portrayal of the alliance’s long-term strategic vision.
“I think convergence is about interoperability and collaboration,” said Cady “These last few days, working with all the military headquarters, 32 nations plus SHAPE, they were able to have more interoperability, able to collaborate better and really just become better as partners.”
“I think the overarching goal of these types of exercises is really about interoperability,” he said. “If you think large-scale combat and if we went to a true, war scenario, we would have to be able to work with all these nations for support operations, border clearances, and general authorities to operate across a theater-wide conflict.”
Cady noted that Steadfast Deterrence gives all the NATO nations a chance to conduct operations together with SHAPE and is critical to U.S. national security.
“Our U.S. national security strategy fits in nicely with Steadfast Deterrence, where it gets after practicing a free and open Europe,” said Cady. “Because a free and open Europe supports a free and open America, keeping those lines of communications open and the ground and sea lanes safe and free.”
As the exercise unfolded, personnel across the alliance experienced firsthand the importance of unity and readiness. From logistics and information management to real-time operational decisions, every layer of NATO’s complex defense architecture was activated and assessed.
U.S. Army Maj. Mark Pijanowski, of the Joint Logistics Support Group-Naples headquartered in Italy, noted that scripted real-world injects tested the response chain for logistical disruptions.
“The exercise play gives us an understanding of things we might experience in a real response. It gives us an opportunity to mitigate impacts and provide solutions,” he said.
Pijanowski has served in Europe for 12 years of his career.
“I've been part of a lot of deterrence exercises in my career, specifically after Russia invaded Ukraine,” he said. “I was in the 2nd Cavalry Regiment when we deployed across the theater, setting up battle groups in four different countries.”
“So that was a real-world scenario that increased deterrence,” said Pijanowski. “That's something that we are trying to do with NATO, to consistently deter our adversaries and assure our allies.
“Having done it in real life and then seeing it play out in an exercise scenario has been helpful for me to learn the other things that could happen within my specific area of expertise.”
With 32 nations represented, including national representatives at every level, Steadfast Deterrence underscored that NATO’s strength depends on unity and shared purpose. U.S. Army Lt. Col. Michael Tillson, of Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum, emphasized how the exercise integrated national responses into a collective defense framework.
“The purpose of the exercise to me is twofold,” Tillson said. “First is to test SHAPE’s readiness as a warfighting headquarters. Second, it’s to integrate national responses to the collective defense. Anytime we can synchronize combined command with national headquarters in Europe and through Allied Command Operations, we work together toward a common goal: collective defense and deterrence.”
Tillson described how working groups and scenario injects sparked “conversations that give us the opportunity to see where there’s room for improvement. We can see gaps or seams, discuss them and come up with potential solutions before we need them in the real world.”
He added, “Any time you can get 32 nations together working on something, it’s going to be better at the end of it than it was beforehand. Every time we do this, we improve.”
Staff Sgt. Laval Harris of Company B, Allied Forces North Battalion, was temporarily assigned as a battle captain after serving normally on the U.S. National Support Element in Stavanger.
“I was called by Col. (Benjamin) Steichen to fill a battle captain slot,” Harris said. “It was literally learn-on-the-fly. I got a brief from Col. Steichen on daily duties—what to expect. There were similarities to my regular job, primarily with information flow, making sure all the cells and teams were consistent with meetings and exercise injects.”
Harris added that in a previous exercise he worked on the JWC Media team, “On the media team, you know exactly what the audience sees. But now, on the inside, you see how that plays out at the operational level. I think all NSE personnel should be afforded more opportunities like this.”
In an era of strategic competition and disinformation, NATO seeks to strengthen societal resilience and maintain trust among its member states. In Stavanger, younger service members also felt the impact of alliance cohesion. Staff Sgt. Drake Veal, a newcomer to JWC, participated in his first large-scale exercise since arriving in Norway.
“I’ve been here for three months,” Veal said. “Working with a lot of very important individuals and doing something I’ve never done before. Here I work with databases, modifying them and running simulations; before, I worked with satellites. Taking on this new assignment felt like career progression.”
Veal, who has distant family in Norway, praised the multicultural environment.
“I love it here,” said Veal. “My favorite part is how unique it is being able to work with different nationalities.”
This unity is what has made NATO the most powerful military alliance in history, and what continues to enable it to adapt and respond to today’s multifaceted security challenges. As authoritarian regimes seek to undermine democratic societies through disinformation, cyber threats, and strategic coercion, NATO remains a defensive alliance committed to the protection of its people, its values, and the rules-based international order.
“For me the most personally rewarding aspect of this exercise has been coordinating and deepening relationships,” said Tillson. “I think one of the most interesting parts about my job is that I kind of live in both worlds. I'm a U.S. Army officer in a multinational command.
“And I'm doing my best to take the U.S. lens and provide it to people on a daily basis inside the NATO force and command structure.
“And so, for me, working with our allies and partners has been great, to get to see different nations and militaries and see how similar we all are.
“We're all professionals. We all are committed to, not only our national defense, but the collective defense of the alliance.”
Biankowski’s insights into the scale and scope of Steadfast Deterrence make one thing abundantly clear: NATO is not only ready but determined. Determined to innovate, adapt, and lead in a more contested and dangerous world. Determined to defend every inch of allied territory.
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