Britain and close European allies have exercised rapidly
bolstering NATO's eastern flank, demonstrating the Alliance's
ability to defend Latvia from any threat.
The UK-led Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF), a partnership of
ten northern European nations, has successfully concluded
Exercise Joint Protector, across multiple locations in Latvia, on
NATO's eastern flank over the last month.
The exercise is a vital part of testing how quickly the JEF can
deploy together across Europe to meet rapidly emerging threats.
Military personnel from across the ten nations practiced
deploying from their home countries, along with key equipment, to
locations across Latvia.
The ability of the JEF to rapidly deploy is reliant on nations
being able to seamlessly operate alongside each other.
This exercise helped improve co-ordination and cooperation
between JEF nations, particularly in the early phases of any
deployment.
Ukrainian military officers attended the exercise for the
first-time this year as the alliance looks to learn from the
Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the Ukrainian military
continues to work closely with its partners across Northern
Europe.
Minister for the Armed Forces, MP, said:
"Exercise Joint Protector demonstrates our unwavering commitment
to regional security, keeping us secure at home and strong
abroad, as well as the strength and depth of our international
partnerships.
“The participation of our Ukrainian partners highlights the
exercise's importance, ensuring that we can learn from Ukraine's
hard-fought combat experience.”
All nine partner nations— Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Netherlands,
Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Sweden and Finland – and the UK as
the Framework Nation—participated in the annual exercise, testing
their collective response to regional security challenges.
The value added by the JEF is a significant contribution to both
security and deterrence, giving JEF Participant Nation
governments, and NATO, more options in times of
crisis.
Our collective vision for the JEF's long-term development is for
it to be a key component of Northern European security:
supporting our members, delivering region-specific and
multi-domain defence activities, and contributing to the security
of Europe as one of NATO's Framework Nation Concept.
