At the 2023 Vilnius Summit, Allies took decisions to further strengthen NATO's deterrence and defence, including new regional defence plans. Steadfast Defender 2024 puts the new defence plans into action. The successful exercise shows the ability of the Alliance to deploy, move and use reinforcements from North America and other parts of the Alliance to continental Europe. The exercise is proof that NATO can sustain complex multi-domain operations over a prolonged time period, across continents, in any conditions.
The exercise is divided into two parts. The first focuses on the reinforcement of Alliance defence at sea, across the Atlantic and in the Arctic, including amphibious assaults, under the leadership of NATO's Joint Force Command Norfolk. The second half, led by NATO's Joint Force Command Brunssum, focuses on the use of NATO and Allied deployed reinforcements across all domains, from the Arctic to the Eastern Flank.
The NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCI Agency) is an important enabler of the exercise, with great cross-team collaboration and services coming from all corners of the Agency, from the NATO Cyber Security Centre to the NCI Academy. More than 120 Agency experts from across 25 Agency locations supported this exercise by providing the necessary network and infrastructure to allow secure and efficient communications during each phase of Steadfast Defender.
The NCI Agency is also responsible for testing and resolving potential interoperability issues with national Communications and Information Systems (CIS). As well as supporting the preparation and set up of the exercise, Agency personnel remain on standby for support during the exercise execution.
