Friday, February 7, 2020
What is it?
Exercise DEFENDER-Europe 20 is the deployment of a division-size combat-credible force from the United States to Europe, the drawing of equipment and the movement of personnel and equipment across the theater to various training areas.
DEFENDER-Europe 20 supports objectives, defined by NATO, to build readiness within the alliance and deter potential adversaries.
What are the current and past efforts of the Army?
The Army will apply the lessons learned through nearly five years of Atlantic Resolve rotations on a much larger scale with exercise DEFENDER-Europe 20. The Army’s current concentration on building the tactical readiness of service members and units will shift to operational and strategic readiness. Strategic readiness includes the ability of the U.S. military to dynamically project force and set the theater by mobilizing and deploying forces, sustaining them in a crisis and redeploying them when their mission is complete.
Some units will deploy with their vehicles and equipment while others will draw from Army Prepositioned Stock in Europe. Units will then conduct movements across Europe to exercise the U.S. Army’s ability to respond to a potential crisis. Movement will be enabled by, and require the support of, tens of thousands of service members and civilians from many nations across Europe.
U.S. units will then participate in several live and command post exercises to build readiness and interoperability with our allies and partners. These exercises are linked to DEFENDER-Europe 20 through a shared exercise scenario, coordinated mission command, mutual sustainment and common communication environment.
What continued efforts does the Army have planned?
DEFENDER-Europe 20 is the first in a series of DEFENDER exercises the U.S. Army has planned in Europe and the Pacific over the next five years.
The Army will continue to plan and practice to prepare for large-scale operations in Europe. In the future, the U.S. military will be ready to deploy, fight and win decisively against any near-peer adversary in a joint, multi-domain, high-intensity conflict.
Why is this important to the Army?
DEFENDER-Europe 20 will build strategic readiness and operationalize the National Defense Strategy by exercising the U.S. Army’s ability to rapidly deploy a large combat-credible force and, alongside its allies and partners, quickly respond to a crisis.
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Readiness is not only about having the right forces and capabilities in place throughout the theater, it’s about exercising our ability to quickly receive and integrate forces with our own and those of our allies and partners. This ability is critical in projecting force at a moment’s notice, our readiness reassures our allies and deters potential adversaries.
– Lt. Gen Christopher Cavoli