Naval Assets Playing Their Part In NATO's First ARF Exercise

Live-firing drills, asymmetrical threat training and rehearsing procedures to deal with diving accident have been among the varied activities undertaken by NATO allies’ navies as part of Steadfast Dart 2025.

Exercise Steadfast Dart 25 has been running throughout January and February. Its principal aim has been  to practice the deployment of the new multi-domain Allied Reaction Force (ARF), capable of rapidly reinforcing NATO’s eastern flank.

Steadfast Dart has involved 11 NATO forces operating across Romania and Bulgaria and has included 17 naval assets working together in the waters of the Aegean Sea.

Ships taking part have included vessels from Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 2. SNMCG2’s Turkish Navy Logistics Support Ship TCG Yzb. Güngör Durmuş, its Mine warfare ship TCG Ayvalık and French Navy minehunter FS Capricorne have been conducting asymmetrical threat drills.

Crew from the Güngör Durmuş and Capricorne also took part diving accident training, ensuring mine countermeasures (MCM) vessels are well prepared to cope with potential accidents.

And Spanish frigates ESPS Victoria and ESPS Blas de Lezo, and Greek Navy frigate HS Limnos participated in a live-fire exercise, firing their main guns at a small target to practice targeting skills and enhance their interoperability.

Overall Steadfast Dart represents the Alliance’s largest live military training exercise this year and constitutes the first full-scale operational deployment of the ARF since its establishment in July 2024.

As well as the ships, in total NATO has deployed more than 10,000 personnel, 1,500 military vehicles, and more than 20 aircraft as part of Steadfast Dart 2025.

• You can read more details on the NATO SHAPE website