Vehicles and equipment for NATO’s largest military exercise in recent years have arrived from Italy to Norway this week.
NATO say that this is the first batch of equipment arriving for the exercise, which will take place in late October and early November.
The equipment belongs to the Italian armoured brigade Ariete. The Italian Armed Forces will participate in Trident Juncture 2018 with some 1,200 troops, making Italy one of the main contributors to the exercise.
Bringing together more than 40,000 troops and equipment from more than 30 countries for the Trident Juncture exercise will be an enormous logistical undertaking, led by NATO’s Joint Force Command Naples.
Some 130 logisticians are working on determining the best air, land and sea routes for the deployments, and facilitating the deployments.
NATO is in charge of the exercise, while Norway is the host country. This weekend’s arrival marks the start for the coming high profile exercise – an exercise of great importance for the Nordic country.
“Trident Juncture is vital for Norway’s defence capability. Our military forces get valuable training along with our allies. But equally important is to test our ability to receive reinforcements from NATO”, says Lieutenant General Rune Jakobsen, Chief of the Norwegian Armed Forces’ Joint Headquarters, adding:
“Parts of the civil society in Southern and Central Norway will contribute through Norway’s total defence concept. Military activity in these areas will also be significantly higher than normal, so we will provide the public with thorough information in the time to come”.
