Hundreds of vehicles head to Romania for first deployment of Nato's Allied Reaction Force
Hundreds of British military vehicles and personnel are on their way to Romania for Nato's Exercise Steadfast Dart in what is the first deployment of the alliance's Allied Reaction Force.
If a Nato ally was invaded in Eastern Europe, the Allied Reaction Force would likely be called into action, with the UK's 1st Divison making up the land component of this response.
They would need to rapidly deploy, but would need to transport the vehicles and equipment thousands of miles away – exactly what Exercise Steadfast Dart is putting to the test.
The components needed for the exercise were loaded onto a ship at the Sea Mounting Centre in Marchwood, Hampshire.
Colonel Jim Beere, Deputy Chief of Staff of 1Div, told BFBS Forces News this is the Allied Reaction Force's "big test to deploy [them] out into the far reaches of Eastern Europe".
"It's the first time that the UK has deployed a divisional headquarters with a number of brigades under command taking on multinational forces as well," he said.
"You've got a big contingent of Spanish forces joining us, a big contingent of French forces joining us in Romania.
"So it's a pretty big deal from the UK and from Nato's perspective.
"It's the first-ever deployment of the Allied Reaction Force and we've been at high readiness for Nato since the 1 July 2024."
The role of the ARF is to provide multi-domain forces from across the alliance at shorter notice than had been previously possible.
Col Beere also explained the deployment would see 2,500 British troops, with 700 vehicles linked up with seven partner nations – increasing the total to 3,500 troops and 1,000 vehicles.
A ferry will carry vehicles to Germany, where they will then make their way by road to Eastern Europe.
Another ferry, Anvil Hurst, is also heading to Greece from Marchwood with 350 of the vehicles on board.
Getting them all loaded was the job of the Royal Logistic Corps' 17 Port and Maritime Regiment, of which Corporal William Morris is part.
He said getting the kit on the ships out to Europe is like "a puzzle".
He said there are roughly 2,500 linear metres of vehicles on the ship, which translates into 2.5km of vehicles lined up nose to tail.
Regarding the deployment, he said the personnel are "completely ready".
"Something of this size doesn't happen a lot, but this is what we train for and it's good to see this stuff going on this size," he said.
"We know that we can cope if something happens."
HIs sentiment was echoed by Col Beere.
"I'm very confident… we're obviously well-rehearsed, we're well-practised at getting ourselves out of the door quickly," he said.
"This really is a big test of lots of different mechanisms of deployment on purpose because we want to show the credibility of UK Armed Forces for Nato in that context in Eastern Europe.
"It's a big deal, but I'm pretty confident."
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