Crisis Response: UK And NATO Allies To Be Tested In Germany

NATO troops combine for Exercise Venerable Gauntlet in 2016 (Picture: MOD).

UK forces will join a total of 4,500 service personnel from 16 NATO allies in Germany for a week-long Exercise Joint Venture 19 (JV19).

The US-led exercise will involve a demanding fictitious scenario to replicate a crisis in order to test the ability to respond.

The UK's Standing Joint Force Headquarters (SJFHQ) - a rapidly deployable command and control component commanded by Major General Rupert Jones - will be tested, to integrate with close allies in US European Command.

Exercise Joint Venture is joined with the US European Command's premier war fighting exercise.

The exercise will run from the 13 – 22 March, and will be held across multiple sites.

Countries participating or observing are Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Spain, Turkey and the UK.

Exercise Trident Juncture - NATO's biggest war game since the end of the Cold War - was held in Norway and finished in November.

It involved 50,000 soldiers from 31 countries, testing their ability to operate and respond to threats together.

Britain sent 2,700 troops to participate, as well as 480 vehicles and six ships.