NATO members are currently conducting the military alliance’s largest combat exercises of 2025 amid increased pressure from President Donald Trump’s administration for European allies to “lead from the front.”
The Associated Press reported that the Steadfast Dart 2025 combat exercises are being conducted in Romania, which shares a border with Ukraine, as the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine approaches.
According to NATO’s website, Exercise Steadfast Dart 2025 is intended to “test and train the operational deployment of the Allied Reaction Force (ARF) to NATO Vigilance Area South-East, focusing on the planning and execution of a pre-crisis multi-domain activity that aims to reinforce the Allied forces located in Romania and Bulgaria.”
The Steadfast Dart 2025 combat exercises include roughly 10,000 military personnel from nine different nations under NATO’s Allied Reaction Force, according to The Associated Press. The outlet noted that the military drills will take place over a period of six weeks in Romania, Greece, and Bulgaria.
NATO’s latest military drills come after the Trump administration called for NATO allies to contribute 5% of gross domestic product for defensive spending.
Addressing the future of NATO in a speech last week, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said, “We’re also here today to directly and unambiguously express that stark strategic realities prevent the United States of America from being primarily focused on the security of Europe.”
“The United States faces consequential threats to our homeland,” Hegseth added. “We must – and we are – focusing on security of our own borders.”
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Hegseth emphasized that as the United States addresses other security threats outside of Europe, “European allies must lead from the front.”
According to The Associated Press, Radu Tudor, a defense analyst in Bucharest, Romania, warned that if the United States decided to reduce its military presence in Romania, “the whole eastern flank of NATO (would) become weaker in front of Russia’s aggressive behavior.”
Adm. Stuart B. Munsch, commander of the Allied Joint Force Command, told reporters on Wednesday that threats to NATO “have become increasingly complex and unpredictable” in recent years.
“To address this complex security environment, NATO has undergone a significant war-fighting transformation. We have taken our defensive plans from concept to reality,” Munsch said. “This exercise … represents the culmination of our efforts and the beginning of our new force that will defend every inch of alliance territory.”
The Associated Press reported that Wednesday’s NATO exercises involved trench warfare drills and live-fire training. The outlet noted that the Steadfast Dart 2025 military exercises include troops from Bulgaria, France, Greece, Italy, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.
