UK deploying 20,000 troops to NATO Europe - what it means

As war rages in Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East continues, the UK has announced it is to send 20,000 troops to take part in a NATO drill. Operation Steadfast Defender will see a total of 40,000 troops from member states take part in one of the largest European military exercises since the Cold War.

However, while some fear the drill is in preparation for a potential conflict with Russia, or Iran, others say such a measure is to be expected from a newly-expanded NATO (Finland joined last year) amid a time of emerging - and changing - threats.

Today, defence secretary Grant Shapps framed the exercise as providing “vital reassurance against the Putin menace”, as the UK and the world stand “at a crossroads”.

“We are in a new era and we must be prepared to deter our enemies, prepared to lead our allies and prepared to defend our nation whenever the call comes,” he said in a speech at Lancaster House. “Today our adversaries are busily rebuilding their barriers, old enemies are reanimated, battle lines are being redrawn, the tanks are literally on Ukraine’s lawn and the foundations of the world order are being shaken to their core. We stand at a crossroads.”

However, while the threat from the likes of Russia and Iran will no doubt be at the forefront of commanders’ thinking, the Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force commitments to Steadfast Defender were decided months ago. The war games come after ministers announced a further £2.5 billion support package to Ukraine and the RAF joined airstrikes, with the US, on the Houthis in Yemen, after trade ships were attacked in the Red Sea.

But the deployment of some 16,000 troops with tanks, artillery and helicopters from the British Army across eastern Europe next month as part of the exercise, alongside more than 2,000 sailors from the Royal Navy and 400 Royal Marines Commandos being sent to the Arctic Circle, was announced three months ago. The RAF, meanwhile, will use F-35B Lightning attack aircraft and Poseidon P-8 surveillance aircraft.

Labour, while backing the commitment of UK forces, said Mr Shapps’s speech was “little more than PR spin”. “Grant Shapps is reheating old announcements from other people,” a spokesperson said. “The PM confirmed 20,000 UK troops will exercise in Europe three months ago, while Nato released details of Steadfast Defender four months ago.”