We are ready when problems with Putin flare up! Royal Navy helicopter launches anti-missile flares over HMS Prince of Wales as part of Steadfast Defender – NATO’s largest military exercise in decades

A Royal Navy helicopter launched anti-missile flares over HMS Prince of Wales as part of NATO’s biggest military exercise in decades.

The 820 Naval Air Squadron’s Merlin helicopter could be seen firing flares from both sides over Britain’s second aircraft carrier for Exercise Steadfast Defender.

The Royal Navy said: ‘Flags are part of the Defensive Aid Suite (DAS). The flares are part of the DAS system. They are specifically designed to defeat infrared seeking missiles (MANPADS).

‘The aircraft carrier is participating in Exercise Steadfast Defender. Exercise Steadfast Defender 2024 will be the largest NATO exercise in decades.

‘NATO forces will exercise in multiple regions and in multiple domains (maritime, land, air, space and cyber).’

It added: ‘The enormous scale of this exercise will unfold over several months and thousands of kilometers and will involve tens of thousands of allied troops, all of whom will demonstrate NATO’s capabilities to deter adversaries and defend allied territory .’

NATO was founded in 1949 and held its first military exercises in the fall of 1951. These were used to train and test the organization’s newly created multinational military structures.

Throughout the Cold War, NATO continued a very active training program to train forces in as many demanding scenarios as possible.

This included the REFORGER series of exercises, which – in a similar manner to those in which the Steadfast Defender 24 participates – tested the ability of North American soldiers to rapidly deploy to Europe.

The last exercise on a similar scale to Steadfast Defender 24 was REFORGER 88, in which 125,000 people participated.

Since Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, NATO has increased the number of exercises focusing on collective defense scenarios.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Allies further strengthened NATO’s deterrence and defense.

Steadfast Defender 24 is the first large-scale NATO exercise that follows these new defense plans.

Earlier this week, French President Emmanuel Macron said nothing should be ruled out as the West looks for a strategy to counter Russia, which controls just under a fifth of the territory recognized as Ukraine.

He noted that European countries have not ruled out putting boots on the ground.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was among European leaders who rejected the idea.

“What has been agreed among ourselves and with each other from the beginning also applies to the future, namely that no soldiers will be sent onto Ukrainian territory by European states or NATO states,” Scholz said.

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson of Sweden, which is set to join NATO after Hungary this week became the latest member to approve the country’s application, threw cold water on the idea, saying that “it is not on the agenda at all at the moment.” stands’.

In an address to the nation today in Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin noted that while he accused Russia of planning to attack NATO allies in Europe, Western allies were “selecting targets to attack our territory” and ‘discussed the possibility of sending a NATO contingent to Ukraine’.

“We remember the fate of those who sent their troop contingents to the territory of our country,” the Russian leader said in an apparent allusion to the failed invasions of Napoleon and Hitler. “Now the consequences for the potential invaders will be much more tragic.”

Putin stated that the West must keep in mind that “we also have the weapons that can hit targets on their territory, and what they are now scaring the world with, all that increases the real threat of a nuclear conflict that will destroy our civilization ‘.