STAVANGER, Norway – Exercise STEADFAST DETERRENCE 2026, NATO’s premier deterrence and collective defence exercise at the strategic and operational levels, is underway in various locations across Europe and the United States.
All NATO Command Structure Headquarters will participate in the third iteration of Exercise STEADFAST DETERRENCE, which is designed to strengthen NATO’s deterrence and readiness in a joint and multi-domain operational environment based on a NATO collective defence scenario.
Scheduled and conducted by Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) and directed by the Joint Warfare Centre (JWC), Exercise STEADFAST DETERRENCE 2026 involves all 32 NATO member states, demonstrating the Alliance’s commitment to collective defence.
The computer-assisted command post exercise will train SHAPE as a NATO strategic warfighting headquarters and simultaneously test the interoperability, planning and coordination between NATO’s joint force commands and theatre component commands across all domains. The regional responsibilities are with Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum, Allied Joint Force Command Naples and Allied Joint Force Command Norfolk.
Exercise STEADFAST DETERRENCE 2026 will also stress-test NATO’s integrated military plans under the Concept for Deterrence and Defence of the Euro-Atlantic Area, focusing on the Arctic and the High North.
STEADFAST DETERRENCE 2026 demonstrates the Joint Warfare Centre’s vital role in building a stronger NATO. This exercise is NATO’s premier platform for testing aspects of NATO’s deterrence – the bedrock of our Alliance. STEADFAST DETERRENCE 2026 will contribute to NATO’s posture in the Arctic and the High North, an increasingly important region for our collective security.
– Major General Ruprecht von Butler
Commander JWC
Audacious Training Transforms NATO Exercises
Exercise STEADFAST DETERRENCE 2026 is the JWC’s first test of new ways of exercise delivery and AI-enabled warfare development capabilities.
STEADFAST DETERRENCE 2026 is the JWC’s first exercise following the Centre’s new role as the lead for execution and implementation of AI in NATO training – a Bi-Strategic Command effort led by Allied Command Transformation (ACT) and Allied Command Operations (ACO).
The aim of audacious training is to make NATO training more realistic and more adaptive to Alliance readiness, while advancing warfare development.
Major General von Butler highlighted that audacious training would pave the way for stronger and more coherent warfare development across the Alliance, making exercises a crucial venue for observing, testing and improving how NATO prepares to address future challenges.
With all NATO Command Structure headquarters and 32 nations participating, there is no better demonstration of our collective resolve than STEADFAST DETERRENCE 2026, which is focused on operationalizing NATO’s Concept for Deterrence and Defence. Collectively we will test our deterrence and enhanced readiness across all domains and advance NATO’s overall warfare development enterprise.
– Major General Ruprecht von Butler
Commander JWC
NATO’s Joint Warfare Centre (JWC) was established on October 23, 2003, in Stavanger, Norway.
The JWC is NATO’s training focal point for joint operational- and strategic-level warfare, responsible for delivering NATO’s largest multi-domain exercises at these levels.
The JWC acts as a hub for Allied Command Transformation and Allied Command Operations to further advance NATO’s transformation.
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