UK to send biggest military deployment to Nato exercises in decades over ‘menace’ posed by Putin

The deployment aims to provide ‘vital reassurance’ over ‘menace’ posed by Russian President Vladimir Putin following his invasion of Ukraine

It will include fighter jets and surveillance aircraft, the navy’s most advanced warships and submarines, a full range of army capabilities including special operations forces

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Britain’s Defence Secretary Grant Shapps delivers a speech at Lancaster House in London. The deployment, which Shapps characterised as the UK’s biggest to Nato in four decades, is aimed at “providing vital reassurance” over the “menace” posed by Russian President Vladimir Putin following his invasion of Ukraine, Shapps said. Photo: AP

Published: 8:57pm, 15 Jan 2024

Britain will send 20,000 armed forces personnel to one of Nato’s largest exercises since the Cold War, Defence Secretary Grant Shapps announced on Monday, warning of increasing threats to the Western-led alliance.

The deployment, which Shapps characterised as the UK’s biggest to Nato in four decades, is aimed at “providing vital reassurance” over the “menace” posed by Russian President Vladimir Putin following his invasion of Ukraine, Shapps said.

The British personnel – from the Royal Air Force, Royal Navy and Army – will deploy across Europe and beyond for the military alliance’s latest “Exercise Steadfast Defender”, alongside personnel from 31 other member countries and Sweden, which is a candidate to join the transatlantic alliance.

“Today’s Nato is bigger than ever, but the challenges are bigger too,” Shapps said in a wide-ranging speech in London, in which he warned “the international rules-based order” was facing rising dangers.

“And that’s why the UK has committed … the totality of our air, land and maritime assets to Nato,” he went on.

“In 2024 I am determined to do even more and that’s why I can announce today the UK will send in some 20,000 personnel to lead one of Nato’s largest deployments since the end of the Cold War.”

The UK contingent will include fighter jets and surveillance aircraft, the navy’s most advanced warships and submarines, and a full range of army capabilities, including special operations forces.

London will send a so-called Carrier Strike Group – which features its flagship aircraft carrier and F-35B fighter jets and helicopters – to the exercises in the North Atlantic, Norwegian Sea and Baltic Sea.