GNIEW, Poland – NATO Troops performed a Wide Wet Gap Crossing (WWGC) before an audience of distinguished visitors over the Vistula River in Poland on Tuesday, Mar. 5, 2024, during exercise Dragon 24, part of the Steadfast Defender exercise series.
“In large scale operations, such as being practised in Steadfast Defender, we use the terrain and the weather to help us execute our plans against the adversary. A river is one of the most difficult obstacles you can cross in ground operations. That is what is being practised here today,” said Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), General Christopher G. Cavoli.
We are capable, we are ready, if ordered to do so, to secure and defend that vital trans-Atlantic link
Distinguished visitors that witnessed the river crossing included Polish President Andrzej Duda and Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda as well as other Heads of State, Ministers, Ambassadors and Allied Defence officials.
JFC Brunssum Commander General Guglielmo Luigi Miglietta and JFC Norfolk Commander Vice Admiral Douglas G. Perry brief distinguished visitors at Polish Dragon 24 on Tuesday, Mar. 5, 2024, part of the exercise Steadfast Defender series, after a wide wet gap crossing demonstration by NATO Troops - NATO photo by NATO Media Information Centre
Steadfast Defender 24 is comprised of a series of national and multinational large-scale live exercises conducted across various geographical locations within SACEUR’s area of responsibility.
“Exercise Steadfast Defender demonstrates the incredible strength of the trans-atlantic bond between NATO Allies in Europe and those in North America. It demonstrates our readiness, our cohesion, our will to train and operate together and most of all NATO’s firm commitment to defend every inch of Allied territory,” said JFC Brunssum Commander General Guglielmo Luigi Miglietta.
JFC Norfolk Commander Vice Admiral Douglas G. Perry amplified General Miglietta’s comments saying, “We are capable, we are ready, if ordered to do so, to secure and defend that vital trans-Atlantic link that has united North America, Canada and the United States, with our European Allies and the NATO Alliance for 75 years.”
NATO Allied national exercises will continue throughout Alliance territory until the end of May. 90,000 personnel from all 31 Allied nations and partner Sweden are participating.