NATO STEADFAST DETERRENCE 2026 Exercise

NATO STEADFAST DETERRENCE 2026 Exercise

Romania participated in the NATO STEADFAST DETERRENCE 2026 (STDC26) Exercise held at the Joint Warfare Centre (JWC) in Stavanger, Norway, over April 28th - May 13th, 2026.

In its third iteration, STDC26 is NATO's main deterrence and collective defence exercise at the strategic and operational levels, organized by the Supreme Allied Command Europe - SHAPE and coordinated by the Joint Warfare Centre.

The main objectives of STDC26 were to train and evaluate SHAPE as NATO's Strategic Warfighting Headquarters, and simultaneously test the interoperability, planning and coordination between NATO's component commands and joint force commands across all domains. The exercise also contributed to testing the Alliance's integrated defence plans, in the context of the Euro-Atlantic Deterrence and Defence Concept (DDA), with a focus on the Arctic and High North.

This year's edition of the exercise included, for the first time, the testing of new NATO training and warfare concepts assisted by artificial intelligence, as part of the "Audacious Training" Initiative, developed by Allied Command Transformation (ACT) and Allied Command Operations (ACO), in order to increase the realism and adaptability of the Alliance's strategic training.

The Romanian delegation consisted of representatives from the defence structures and the Euro-Atlantic Resilience Center. The Romanian participated in STDC26 with a view to integrating into a strategic-level response structure dedicated to coordinating the response in crisis situations.

The exercise contributed to the increase of interoperability, the testing of operational procedures and the enhancement of cooperation among allies, while providing a relevant framework for the integration of the resilience dimension and civil-military cooperation into NATO's strategic planning and response processes.

By participating in STDC26, Romania reaffirmed its commitment to NATO objectives and its active contribution to strengthening the Alliance's deterrence and collective defence posture.

The Press Office