The British Army, along with personnel from the US, France and Italy, have conducted a NATO wargame exercise with a fictional scenario based in 2030 of a Russian threat
A disused platform of London’s Charing Cross Tube station was transformed into a temporary military headquarters for a NATO wargame exercise this week involving hundreds of personnel from the United States, Britain, France and Italy.
The Ministry of Defence said on Friday (May 22) the exercise had tested technologies and methods intended for real-world use if NATO were called on to defend its European allies.
It comes at a time of heightened tension between NATO and Russia over the war in Ukraine and as Moscow conducts major military drills, including nuclear exercises.
Images released by the MoD showed uniformed personnel delivering briefings in front of temporary screens displaying military maps on a now-defunct Jubilee Line platform, last used by commuters more than 25 years ago.
The British Army said the exercise was set in a fictional scenario based in 2030 because that’s when “military planners believe the threat from Russia could be at its most serious”.
The exercise simulated a conflict in Estonia in which NATO’s Article 5 collective defence clause was triggered, requiring forces to respond to a threat on the alliance’s eastern flank.
Led by the UK-based Allied Rapid Reaction Corps, NATO’s rapid-reaction force, the drill tested how commanders could plan and direct operations involving up to 100,000 troops across land, sea and air.
General Chris Donahue, Commander of NATO Land Command and US Army Europe and Africa, is clear about what he needs from the ARRC: “A fully enabled Strategic Reserve Corps able to fight and win wars, led by the UK, is not optional. It is essential.”
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