By Damien Sharkov April 8, 2016
Estonia will host a record number of U.S. troops during the allied Saber Strike exercise this summer, BBC’s Ukrainian service has reported.
The Estonian Armed Forces did not confirm how many U.S. troops would take part; however, they did estimate that over 500 units of U.S. military kit would participate in the exercise.
Saber Strike will be one of U.S. Army Europe’s largest multinational exercises this summer in a bid to practise a speedy response with its new rapid-reaction forces in Eastern Europe.
The Saber Strike 16 exercise will complement a summer NATO exercise, Brilliant Jump, to drill multinational response from eight allies in Eastern Europe, in the hypothetical scenario of a threat in the region.
The exercise will kick off on May 27 in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and continue until June 15, involving 14 different nations, including a 2,400-kilometer tactical march by 2nd Cavalry Regiment from Germany to the Baltics.
It will involve around 10,000 troops troops and will be one of the biggest tests for NATO allies’ reinforcement strategy before its assessment at the alliance’s summit in Poland in July.
