According to a statement made by the deputy press secretary of the Pentagon on April 5, 2023, about 9,000 United States military personnel are scheduled to participate in the Defender 23 exercise, which will begin on April 22.
During a briefing held today at the Pentagon, Sabrina Singh stated, “This annual, nearly 2 month long exercise is focused on strategic deployment of U.S. forces, employment of Army pre-positioned stocks, and interoperability with European allies and partners.”
The United States Army in Europe and Africa is in charge of Defender 23 exercise, which is planning stages since 2021. The purpose of the exercise is to demonstrate the capability of the United States military to rapidly deploy combat-credible troops and equipment in order to reassure allies, discourage those who would undermine the peace of Europe, and defend the continent against aggression.
The exercise also serves as a demonstration of the resolve of European nations to expand the scale, capabilities, and interoperability of their own forces.
According to Singh, “approximately 9,000 United States troops in addition to approximately 17,000 troops from 26 allied and partner nations will participate,” and separate parts of the exercise will be carried out in ten different countries across Europe.
According to Singh, the logistics support equipment for the drill started arriving in Spain this week. She stated that the United States had sent approximately 7,000 different pieces of equipment to the European theater. In addition, during Defender 23, over 13,000 pieces of equipment will be utilized, all of which will be obtained from pre-positioned stock.
In addition to those from the United States, soldiers from the following countries will be taking part in Defender 23: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
