Gen. Wolters said “What we are attempting to do, is improve our strategic transparency and alignment. Something that hasn’t been done with this scope and scale since the 1940’s.”

Building on the success of last year’s exercise, DEFENDER-Europe 21 includes a greater number of NATO Ally and partner nations conducting activities over a wider area than what was planned for in 2020. More than 28,000 multinational forces from 26 nations will conduct nearly simultaneous operations across more than 30 training areas in a dozen countries.