List of NATO exercises

Cold War (1950–1990)

Annual exercises

• Exercise Able Archer was an annual exercise by NATO military forces in Europe.
• Northern Wedding was a naval exercise held 1970–1986, designed to test NATO's ability to rearm and resupply Europe.
• Exercise Reforger was a major annual exercise and campaign conducted from 1969 to 1993, mainly on German territory.

  1950s

• Exercise Mainbrace - Defence of Denmark and Norway during September 1952.
• * 200 ships
• * over 50,000 personnel
• Exercise Grand Slam. Naval exercise in the Mediterranean Sea in 1952.
• Exercise Longstep. Large naval exercise in the Mediterranean Sea in 1952.
• Exercise Italic Weld, a combined air-naval-ground exercise in northern Italy during August 1953
• Exercise Grand Repulse during September 1953
• * British Army on the Rhine
• * Netherlands Corps
• * Allied Air Forces Central Europe
• Exercise Monte Carlo, a simulated atomic air-ground exercise during September 1953
• * Central Army Group
• Exercise Weldfast, a combined amphibious landing exercise in the Mediterranean Sea during October 1953
• * American, British, Greek, Italian and Turkish naval forces.
• During Exercise Battle Royal in September 1954, I Corps consisted of 1 Infantry Division and 16 Armoured Division with 1 Canadian Brigade and 46 Parachute Brigade under command.
• Exercise Carte Blanche - Rehearsal of the use of tactical nuclear weapons.
• Operation Counter Punch
• Operation Strikeback Involved 200 warships, 650 aircraft, and 75,000 personnel from the United States Navy, the Royal Navy, the Royal Canadian Navy, the French Navy, the Royal Netherlands Navy, and the Royal Norwegian Navy. Was the largest peacetime naval operation up to that time, according to the New York Times.
• Operation Deep Water
• Exercise Mariner
• Exercise Full Play
• Exercise Side Step
• Exercise Riptide - An anti-submarine/airstrike exercise held in the US and Western Atlantic. Involved Naval forces from United States and United Kingdom.
• Exercise Red Epoch

  1960s

• Exercise Fallex
• Operation Skyshield - Held in US and Canada by NORAD and CONAD to test defenses against air attack from Soviet Union.
• Exercise Weldfast
• Exercise Silver Tower - A large scale naval exercise in the Mediterranean, testing of merchant convoy procedures.
• Exercise Teamwork - Naval, shipping protection, humanitarian operations.

  1970s

• Exercise Bold Guard - Resulted in the Kiel Canal disaster.

  1980s

• Exercise Anorak Express - Cold weather training.
• Exercise Display Determination - Parachuting in Turkey
• Exercise Central Enterprise - A periodic live-fire exercise designed to test integrated air defenses in Western and Central Europe.
• Able Archer 83, carried out in November 1983, is believed to have nearly started a nuclear war with the Soviet Union.
• Exercise Autumn Forge - Exercise in Holland.
• Exercise Lionheart. A large exercise led by Britain in 1984 involving 131,565 UK personnel, quoted as being the largest since World War 2. Also involving approximately 10,000 FRG, Dutch, American and Commonwealth personnel.
• Exercise Caravan Guard - During the exercise V Corps and 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment tested reconstitution of degraded combat units after an initial battle.
• Exercise Iron Hammer. Involved 24,800 troops and 7000 vehicles operating in UK and FRG.
• Exercise Reforger 1988

  Post-Cold War (1990–present)

• Northern Viking. Annual exercise held in Iceland, every two years until 2006 when the frequency was increased. Tests capability and inter-operability of forces. Includes naval vessels, fighter planes and helicopters from multiple countries. Size example: involved transfer of 400 foreign troops to iceland in 2008.
• Joint Warrior. Ongoing since sometime in the Cold War. Up to 13,000 personnel. Airborne assaults, amphibious landings, counter-insurgency, counter-piracy and interstate war. Held in UK. Currently done twice a year.
• Frisian Flag. Major aerial exercise in Netherlands. Annual, first held 1992. Uses about 70 aircraft. Eg about 1000 personnel in 2018.
• Unified Vision. Twice-yearly exercise which began in 2012 to test advanced defense systems at the Ørland Main Air Station in Norway.
• BALTOPS Annual US-led maritime exercise in Germany and the Baltic Sea. Participating countries include Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Finland and Sweden.

  1997

• Baltic Challenge. Naval.

  1998

• Baltic Challenge. Naval.

  1999

• Battle Griffin. 20,000 soldiers. 16 February to 3 March in Norway. Land, sea, air and Home Guard Forces from 8 NATO countries participated.

  2000

• Dynamic Response. 19 March to 10 April in Kosovo. It was subdivided into rapid deployment, interoperability and high operational readiness.
• Linked Seas. 2 to 15 May in an area stretching from the Gulf of Gascony to the Island of Madeira. The scenario revolved around a border conflict between two non-NATO countries.
• Dynamic Mix. 20 May to 10 June in the Mediterranean region. Italy, Greece and Turkey hosted this multi-phase, multi-force exercise involving approximately 15,000 troops, 65 ships and 290 aircraft, as well as most NATO Headquarters in the Southern Region.
• Cooperative Partner. 19 June to 1 July in the Black Sea and in the area of Odessa. Ten NATO and six Partner countries participated in a military exercise hosted in Ukraine.
• Adventure Exchange. 9 September to 4 October in Northern Greece. It involved the deployment of command posts and supporting elements from 15 NATO member countries.
• Trans-Carpathia. 20 to 28 September in the Trans-Carpathian region. This flood simulation exercise, conducted in the framework of Partnership for Peace and as one of the major activities in the NATO-Ukraine workplan, brought together more than 350 personnel from disaster response elements of eleven EAPC countries.
• Destined Glory. 9 to 25 October in Greece, Turkey and in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean seas. It aimed to improve NATO's southern region capability to carry out combined, joint operations and to maintain its readiness to respond to crises. Forces from eight NATO countries participated in this exercise.
• Cooperative Determination. 1 to 10 November. Nine NATO member countries and eleven partner countries are participating in a computer assisted exercise.

  2001

• CMX 2001. 15 to 21 February dealing mainly with actions NATO might had to take to conduct a UN mandated peace support operation with no actual troops deployed.
• Cooperative Best Effort. 10 to 21 September in the Austrian Alps. This exercise trained participants from 7 NATO and 13 Partner countries in various peace support operation skills.
• Air Meet. 3 to 14 September in Norway. The aim of Exercise Air Meet is to train air forces in tactical air operations, including training in the suppression of enemy air defences and electronic warfare. The exercise was operated from Main Air Station Ørland, Norway, and conducted by Headquarters Allied Air Forces North, Ramstein, Germany.
• Cooperative Key. 11 to 21 September in Bulgaria. Military personnel from 9 NATO and 13 Partner countries are participating, based on a NATO response to a UN request to deploy a multinational task force in support of humanitarian operations.
• Exchange Adventure. 1 to 25 October in North-West Turkey. This live field training exercise involves approximately 2 000 troops from 14 different NATO countries in Article 5 joint and combined deterrent and combat operations.
• Allied Effort. 5 to 20 November in Poland. Brought together 2,500 personnel from 14 NATO countries and 13 Partner countries and was aimed at training the headquarters and component commands of a Combined Joint Task Force in the planning and conduct of a peace-support operation.

  2002

• Disciplined Warrior. 21 January to 1 February in Madrid, Spain. The exercise involved approximately 450 military personnel and was conducted in coordination with the United Nations, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the Red Cross.
• CMX 2002. 31 January to 6 February in national capitals, at NATO Headquarters, and in both Strategic Commands. The scenario depicted a developing Article 5 situation with no actual troops were deployed.
• Strong Resolve. 1 to 15 March in Norway and Poland. It tested NATO's ability to conduct two simultaneous operations: a NATO Article 5 collective defence operation and a crisis response operation.
• Cooperative Partner. 21 June to 6 July near Constanta, Romania, and in the Black Sea. More than 5000 personnel from eight NATO countries and five partner countries participating.
• Bogorodsk 2002. 25 to 27 September in Noginsk and centered around a terrorist attack on a chemical production facility involving mass casualties, contamination, collapsed structures and evacuation and a request for international assistance.

  2003

• Disciplined Warrior. 24 February to 7 March in Verona, Italy. The exercise aimsed to improve the capabilities of the Southern Region to carry out crisis response operations and to train personnel from Hungarian defence forces, who had the opportunity to enhance experience in planning for multinational operations.
• Cooperative Jaguar. 24 March to 4 April at Karup Air Station in Denmark. Around 500 troops from nine NATO and eight partner countries participated in the operation that aimed to improve interoperability between headquarters and units from different countries.
• Cooperative Best Effort. 16 to 27 June in Vazgen Sargsian Military Institute in Armenia. Brought together approximately 400 troops from 19 different NATO and partner countries.
• Dacia 2003. 7 to 10 October in Pitesti, Romania. Close to 1,700 civil emergency personnel from 19 NATO and partner countries practiced fighting the consequences of a terrorist attack with radioactive material during a football match where 20 people are killed instantly and a further 20,000 affected by exposure to the radioactive material.
• CMX 2003. 19 to 25 November in national capitals, at NATO Headquarters, and in both Strategic Commands. The exercise focused on the interaction between the EU and NATO at the strategic politico-military level based on a range of standing arrangements for consultation and co-operation between the two organisations in times of crisis leading to the appointment of an Operational Commander and to the EU tasking for military operational planning with no actual troops deployed.
• NATO's Response Force. 20 November in Turkey. Elite troops from 11 NATO countries were deployed by air, sea and land to counter a fictional threat to UN staff and civilians from terrorists and hostile soldiers in a country outside the Euro-Atlantic area.