Steadfast Duel 26 ends: NATO command exercise has Estonia rehearsing its own war plan

NATO’s Steadfast Duel 26, a computer-assisted command post exercise that tests the Alliance’s command structure and its defence plans, ended on 15 October after ten days. Estonia’s Defence Forces, which took part as a national command element, said the exercise gave them a clearer picture of what they do well and where they still need to improve.

What the exercise tested

Steadfast Duel ran from 6 to 15 October under the direction of NATO’s Joint Warfare Centre in Norway, working with US European Command. According to the Estonian Defence Forces, military and civilian representatives from all 32 member states took part. The aim was to test how NATO’s command structures and chains of command work and to rehearse how defence plans would be put into practice. At the start of the exercise, the Estonian exercise director described it as the most important exercise for NATO’s command structure, one in which the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe and the Joint Force Commands rehearse their war plans.

Estonia’s part

In Estonia the focus was on the procedures of the Defence Forces’ Joint Headquarters command post and on how information moves between headquarters at different NATO levels. Units of the Defence Forces, allied forces, the NATO Force Integration Unit in Estonia, the Estonian Defence League and a range of government agencies, ministries and security services all took part.

Major General Vahur Karus, chief of staff of the Joint Headquarters and Estonian exercise director, said the scale of the exercise and the number of participants were “impressive”. He added that Estonia could rehearse its own war plan with NATO and neighbouring countries, and that involving more government institutions would make national defence “stronger and more credible”.

Certification of the integration unit

The exercise also served as part of a four-month assessment of NATO Force Integration Unit Estonia, the body that links NATO with the Estonian Defence Forces and prepares the ground for allied troops arriving in the country. In a separate announcement, the Defence Forces said the unit completed its latest certification. The assessment was carried out by the Defence Forces Headquarters together with NATO’s Joint Logistics Support Group in Brunssum. Its later phases looked at the unit’s planning and its work during Steadfast Duel 26, including its ability to prepare conditions for NATO forces deploying to Estonia and to give them initial situational awareness.

Context

Steadfast Duel is a computer-assisted exercise for headquarters and staffs. NATO’s separate nuclear exercise, Steadfast Noon, was reported in NATO opens annual Steadfast Noon nuclear exercise in Italy with 17 nations. Estonia also hosted NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte this week, as covered in NATO’s Rutte in Estonia: defence spending above 5% of GDP and a new €10 million for PURL.