Between the 02nd November and 07th November 2015, MAR attended NATO Exercise Trident Juncture at Albacete and Zaragoza Spain. It was the biggest NATO exercise since 2002 and the start of an intense and challenging exercise and test for troops and commanders, with air, land, maritime and special forces involved.

Exercise Trident Juncture was a training exercise aimed to train the NATO Response Force and other Allied forces and prepare them to face any challenge they may encounter. It allowed them to work smoothly together, collaborate with their partners and be able to take part in a crisis responses with international organizations.

Trident Juncture 2015 made it possible to improve the troop’s readiness and flexibility due to the change in the security of the environment and challenges in the south and east.

MAR attended Part Two of the programme, a live exercise which was hosted by Spain, Portugal and Italy. Part One of the programme tested command and control elements of the NRF and showcase the ability of NATO to work with external partners.

This exercise involved:

  • Around 36,000 troops from more than 30 nations (27 NATO Allies plus partners).
  • More than 230 units, more than 140 aircraft and more than 60 ships.
  • More than 12 international organizations, governmental organizations and NGOs will participate, including the European Union, the OSCE, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the African Union.

The below is a list of aircraft that took part of this exercise and where photographed by our team:

Royal Air Force – TYPHOON / TORNADO

SPANISH Air Force – EF-2000 / F/A-18A / COUGAR / C-130

SPANISH ARMY – COUGAR / TIGRE

CZECH Air Force – C-295M / MIL 171 / L-59

FRENCH Air Force – M2000C / C-160R

TURKISH Air Force – F-16C/D

US Air Force – C-130J / C-17A / B-52

US ARMY – APACHE / CH-47F / UH-60M

NORWAY Air Force – C-130J

The exercise was based on a fictitious scenario. It portrayed a conflict in fictitious country, East Cerasia, where one nation intends to invade a smaller neighbour and threatens to invade yet another country. The resulting fictitious crisis is caused by competition for resources and has ethnic and religious dimensions. The scenario’s implications are global, with impact on maritime navigation and energy security and risks such as terrorism and cyber-attacks.

In response, in the fictitious scenario the UN Security Council authorised a NATO International Support Assistance Mission to help protect the threatened states and safeguard freedom of navigation. This Mission was simulated by the Trident Juncture 2015 exercise. 

This brings an end to our report of NATO Exercise Trident Juncture 2015, a very well organised event to showcase all the work being done by NATO allies. A special thanks goes to the staff at Albacete and Zaragoza for hosting us to be able to report back on this large scale important exercise.