Preparations for NATO’s largest exercise of the year, Steadfast Dart 2025, commenced in January 2025. It involves approximately 10,000 personnel from nine NATO member states as a demonstration of the Alliance’s readiness and capability to respond to emerging threats.
The exercise, taking place February 10-21, features personnel from Bulgaria, France, Greece, Italy, Romania, Spain, Slovenia, Turkey and the United Kingdom, including air, land, maritime and special operations forces. The U.K. is providing the largest contribution of forces to the exercise with over 2,600 personnel and 730 vehicles deploying. Steadfast Dart will take place in Bulgaria, Greece and Romania and will include live capability demonstrations across all domains.
Steadfast Dart 2025 marks the first large-scale deployment exercise of NATO’s Allied Reaction Force (ARF), a high-readiness, multidomain-capable force established in 2024. The exercise aims to test the deployable capabilities and procedures of the ARF, as well as the interoperability among troop contributors and host nations. The ARF will demonstrate its ability to rapidly deploy forces to reinforce NATO assets along its eastern flank.
Extended deterrence is a core component of NATO’s 2022 Strategic Concept to “ensure the collective defense and security of all Allies.” The document emphasizes the importance of credible deterrence and defense capabilities. NATO’s nuclear forces, alongside conventional and missile defense forces, play a crucial role in maintaining peace and stability.
In that vein, Steadfast Dart demonstrates NATO’s unity and determination to protect member nations and uphold the stable and open international system. Conducted in full compliance with international obligations, the exercise aims to showcase NATO’s defensive capabilities. As the global security landscape continues to evolve, NATO faces new challenges. The emergence of near-peer nuclear threats and the changing nature of warfare require continuous adaptation and innovation.
“NATO’s deterrence and defense posture is based on an appropriate mix of nuclear, conventional and missile defense capabilities, complemented by space and cyber capabilities,” according to the Washington Summit Declaration drafted in 2024. “NATO remains committed to taking all necessary steps to ensure the credibility, effectiveness, safety, and security of the Alliance’s nuclear deterrence mission, including by modernizing its nuclear capabilities, strengthening its nuclear planning capability, and adapting as necessary.”
Steadfast Dart will highlight NATO’s ability to rapidly deploy forces to protect its eastern flank during a “simulated emerging conflict scenario with a near-peer adversary,” according to a NATO news release. The exercise will put the capabilities of the ARF on display, showing its ability to “sustain complex operations across thousands of kilometers and in any condition.”