Chapter Four: Europe

Abstract

Exercise Trident Juncture, which took place in and offshore Norway in October, was NATO’s largest exercise in decades. It saw the deployment of the VJTF, and some 50,000 troops in total, plus partner countries Finland and Sweden. The EU’s PESCO initiative released two batches of projects, and while the second list (released in November) contains more projects related to specific military requirements, it still does not fully address strategic-capability gaps, including in strategic airlift, that were identified in the EU’s June 2018 Capability Development Plan.