NATO Flexes Muscles in Eastern Front with Neptune Strike 2024 Exercise

NATO shows its muscles on the eastern front and kicks off Neptune Strike 2024: a naval and amphibious exercise involving over 4600 men, ships, and equipment from more than 15 allies, extending from the Eastern Mediterranean to the Baltic coasts, from Istanbul to Helsinki. Leading the exercise are three European aircraft carriers, the Spanish Juan Carlos I, the Italian Cavour, and the French Charles De Gaulle, which until May 10 have handed over their commands, a first for the French ship, to the central NATO command. The participation of the Turkish armed forces with the Anadolu aircraft carrier, as well as those from Albania, Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Spain, Turkey, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States is also significant. The purpose of the operation is to refine the coordination of NATO forces and strengthen the ability to act as a single army. It's the first exercise as a member state for Sweden, which participates in Neptune Strike with helicopters in the Baltic part of the maneuvers. Among the highlights is also a simulation of a landing on a Cretan beach, an opportunity for the allies to practice new means and technologies and evaluate their performance on the Mediterranean coasts. Among the objectives of the NATO exercise is also the response to new challenges, as explained on board the Spanish aircraft carrier Juan Carlos I by the chief of staff of the Dedalo combat group, David Duran: "The surveillance of submarine cables and pipelines today is an increasingly central element of patrols both in the Baltic and the Mediterranean." Between Italy and Spain, moreover, the understanding goes beyond simple coordination. "Thanks to the Siaf and Silf projects, the operational procedures of the Italian and Spanish marine raiders and amphibious battalions are now extremely similar, with the Italians we have more than a friendship, we are brothers and absolutely interoperable," says Duran to ANSA, emphasizing that the Dedalo Group is in fact expected in Italy for the Mare Aperto exercise. In the coordination between NATO allies, there is also the seed of future European defense. The commander of the Juan Carlos I, Ricarco Gomez, recalls that it was from the deck of his ship that the EU High Representative Josip Borrell reaffirmed Brussels' commitment to the creation of European rapid intervention corps, during the Spanish presidency. Spain, Italy, and France thus with three sister aircraft carriers today lead the command of the maneuvers and aim to refine the everyday reality of an increasingly structured coordination, to remember that until the goal, still distant, of a European army, a common defense on the field already exists, and it is called NATO.