Military Mobility
The exercise aims to showcase NATO allies’ readiness to collaborate in reinforcing the eastern flank and to share insights from the Ukraine conflict.
Speed is crucial in addressing Russian aggression. In a significant deployment, France dispatched troops and military assets to Romania within NATO’s 10-day timeframe. By 2027, France is required by NATO to deploy a division ready for combat on the eastern flank in 30 days.
“For the first time, we decided to use a ship. It took us two days to reach Greece, then two to three more days to cross Bulgaria,” stated Gen. Maxime Do Tran, leading the French armored brigade in the exercise. Other troops traveled via five planes, 11 trains, and around 15 convoys.
Debris from a Russian drone targeting Ukraine landed in Romania earlier this week, marking the latest in similar occurrences. | Laura Kayali/POLITICO
Moving across air, land, and sea was largely efficient, though “train transportation was a bit more difficult because in peacetime, we were not prioritized to cross the border,” Do Tran noted. The European Commission is set to reveal a proposal to facilitate the movement of military personnel and equipment next week.
The equipment deployed came from across the alliance: German Eurofighters, Romanian F-16s, High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, Caesar self-propelled howitzers, and Mistral air defense systems.
And drones. Numerous drones. “Dacian Fall is a very good platform for each nation to experiment and test new equipment,” said Maj. Gen. Toma. Romanian military officers tested Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 drones for the first time during a large-scale drill. Other drones included those providing targeting data for ground troops, suicide drones, and FPV models extensively used in Ukraine.
Leave a Reply