Tuesday June 10, 2014
What is it?
The Saber Strike exercise program is an ongoing cooperative training effort led by U.S. Army Europe and focused primarily on the three Baltic States: Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
This year’s exercise, which also includes participation by forces from Finland, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Canada, Norway and the continental U.S., is designed to train participants on command and control techniques and bolster joint and combined interoperability in the region. The 12-day event consists of command post and computer-assisted exercises and a field training exercise with a situational training component, and features the integration of U.S. close air support with partner nation ground forces and a demonstration of air deployment of personnel and equipment.
What has the Army done?
Saber Strike 14 will greatly enhance relationships and joint and combined interoperability among participating forces. Of particular value to the U.S. Army and its support of U.S. and regional interests in Europe, is the involvement of an element of Fort Hood’s 1st Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division (1/1st), the Army’s designated regionally aligned force (RAF) provider for Europe.
Due to USAREUR’s long-term security cooperation efforts in Europe, Saber Strike will significantly expand the 1/1st’s ability to execute its two-pronged RAF mission of serving as the European Rotation Force and fulfilling U.S. requirements for the NATO Response Force.
What continued efforts does the Army have planned for the future?
Efforts such as Saber Strike and the current USAREUR-led persistent presence exercises in Poland and the Baltic states, are components of a broader, and growing, line-up of security cooperation efforts spanning Europe. Those efforts already include more than 1,000 events each year, such as dozens of major joint and combined training exercises across the European theater, the State Partnership Program that pairs Army National Guard units with European forces, and state-of-the-art training for U.S. and partner forces at the Joint Multinational Training Command and Joint Multinational Readiness Center.
Why is this important to the Army?
Heightened tensions in Europe in recent months have underscored the needs for the U.S. Army’s continued commitment to the region and the multinational momentum to improve and refine capacity to build coalitions. As these capabilities are likely to be increasingly called upon, the Army and its partners must be ready to join forces to operate seamlessly and effectively across the spectrum of regional and global contingencies and operations.
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