NATO to hold exercise Trident Joust 2015 in Romania, Bulgaria

Twenty-five NATO nations and more than 1,000 personnel will participate in exercise Trident Joust 2015 June 18 to 28, NATO said Tuesday.

The exercice marks the first time a joint force command headquarters will deploy to Romania, and the first time a NATO response force command and control exercise will conduct the shifting of control to a deployed location.

The joint logistics support group, based out of Naples, Italy, is deploying its headquarters to Bulgaria to exercise its capability in support of the exercise.

"The exercise is designed to test the abilities of Joint Force Command Naples to lead a collective defense operation for the Alliance," said Admiral Mark Ferguson, commander of JFC Naples.

Trident Joust 2015 is part of a larger series of exercises referred to as Allied Shield. The activities will focus on enhancing inter-operability, readiness and responsiveness among Allied and partner nations.

The Allied Shield series includes exercise Noble Jump, the first training deployment of Allied high-readiness units under the new Very High Readiness Joint Task Force framework.

It also includes Baltops, a major Allied naval exercise in Poland and the Baltic Sea, and Saber Strike, a significant land exercise in the Baltic States.

In total, approximately 14,000 troops will participate in this series of training events taking place across the Alliance in June 2015.

"These exercises demonstrate that NATO is transforming and adapting to meet the new security challenges facing the Alliance as identified at the Wales Summit," said Ferguson. Endit