Air forces from fourteen nations are scheduled to participate in a “highly sensitive” exercise designed to test the ability of partners to undertake nuclear attacks, the cornerstone of NATO’s deterrence policy.
The NATO alliance has announced that a nuclear drill involving bomb-dropping aircraft will begin next week over the United Kingdom, the North Sea, and Belgium.
The yearly drill, known as Steadfast Noon, will go on despite growing tensions with Russia and suspicions that President Vladimir Putin may consider a nuclear attack on Ukraine.
Unusually, NATO decided to announce the next drill well in advance.
This appears to have been done to assure transparency and limit the possibility of confusion over the top-secret and very sensitive exercise.
Even the name Steadfast Noon was declassified only three or four years ago.
The alliance announced on Friday that air forces from approximately 14 countries will participate, with up to 60 aircraft operating over northwestern Europe.
They will include allied fighter jets, such as those from Belgium and Germany, that can carry US-supplied B61 bombs, as well as US B52 bombers.
No actual weapons will be employed.
The jets will be escorted by additional warplanes, refueling aircraft, and reconnaissance aircraft.
The objective is to evaluate the capabilities of allies to conduct nuclear attacks, which is the foundation of NATO’s deterrent policy.
NATO stated in a statement that training flights will take place over Belgium, the North Sea, and the United Kingdom.
Training aids in ensuring that the nuclear deterrent is “safe, secure, and effective.”
Long-range B-52 bombers will take off from the Minot Air Base in North Dakota.
The training, hosted this year by Belgium, will run from Monday to October 30.
Alliance spokesman Oana Lungescu stated, “This exercise helps ensure that the alliance’s nuclear deterrent remains safe, secure, and effective.”
Each year, a different NATO country holds the exercise. The previous year was Italy’s turn.
Typically, anything about the alliance’s nuclear doctrine, posture, and activities is classified as top secret.
Allies are extremely circumspect when discussing nuclear weapons, as even the smallest comment could be interpreted as an escalation.
Similarly, NATO does not specify when it might employ nuclear weapons, stating only that such scenarios are “very unlikely.”
Drawing red lines could compromise the alliance’s ability to prevent threats, thus it chooses to stay purposefully vague.
Wednesday, though, the French president appeared to break with this tradition.
Emmanuel Macron stated in a televised interview that France would not reply with a nuclear strike should Vladimir Putin fire a nuclear bomb in Ukraine or the vicinity.
Eliminating the training event would have sent a “really bad signal.”
Russia’s efforts to dissuade the West from aiding the Ukrainian military have included the threat of a nuclear strike against Ukraine.
The Ukraine crisis appears to have led the alliance to make its yearly nuclear exercise more public.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stated earlier in the week that it would send a “very incorrect signal” to postpone the long-planned event.
Ben Wallace, the British defense secretary, concurred with this assessment and said that Russia’s nuclear troops are scheduled to undertake their yearly training exercise around the same time.
“I believe that is the answer. What we do not want is to behave erratically “Thursday, he said, addressing on the sidelines of a NATO defense ministers conference in Brussels.
Only three of NATO’s thirty partners possess nuclear weapons: the United States, the United Kingdom, and France.
France, however, does not play a direct role in NATO’s nuclear deterrence and is not a member of the alliance’s nuclear planning committee, which handles allied nuclear concerns.
