More than 1,000 personnel from several NATO nations have completed Exercise Bold Panzer in northeastern Estonia, a two week high intensity training event designed to test the readiness and cohesion of the Alliance’s forward forces on the Eastern Flank, the UK Defence Journal understands.
The exercise forms part of the posture maintained by NATO’s multinational battlegroups, which are positioned to respond immediately to aggression, according to the organisation.
The drill was led by the UK’s Royal Tank Regiment as the framework nation for the Estonian battlegroup. Armour, infantry, engineers, artillery and anti tank teams from France, Poland, Slovenia, Estonia and Latvia took part. The exercise constructed a demanding scenario based on a fictional adversary, but one intended to mirror the tempo and complexity of modern high intensity conflict.
Lieutenant Colonel Mark Luson, who commands the British battlegroup, said the wider security situation fed directly into the training mindset. “The day before we took command of this rotation of Operation Cabrit, we had Russian planes flying into Estonian airspace… and Russian drones flying into Eastern Europe. That provided the impetus and motivation to make the soldiers understand this is a real life environment where the threat is imminent,” he said in remarks quoted by NATO.
The open terrain of northeast Estonia supported extensive manoeuvre by heavy armour. British Challenger 2 tanks operated alongside Polish Leopard 2s, while French infantry, Slovenian anti tank teams, and UK Warrior infantry fighting vehicles contributed to a multinational force that trained under conditions intended to simulate early stage Article 5 operations.
According to NATO, the exercise reinforced the expectation that, in a crisis, the Estonian battlegroup would work with national forces to hold ground until additional Allied units arrived.
