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NATO starts massive multinational airborne drill in Europe

Xinhua, August 20, 2015 Adjust font size:

A dozen of NATO member countries began on Thursday the largest multinational airborne drill in Europe since the Second World War, Bulgarian Ministry of Defense said in a press release.

The U.S.-led exercise codenamed "Swift Response -- 2015" would be held until Sept. 13 simultaneously in Germany, Romania, Bulgaria and Italy, involving also other NATO members including Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Britain, the press release said.

"The aim of the exercise is to integrate the high readiness forces of individual NATO members so that they can operate as one and be able to respond effectively to changes in the security through the entire territory of the Alliance," the press release said.

The drill would help the new forces established by NATO, Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF), it said.

VJTF task was to ensure NATO's ability to respond to changes in security on its territory within 48 hours, the press release added. Endit