NATO launched its biggest exercises since the end of the Cold War on Thursday in Norway.

The Trident Juncture war games involve around 50,000 troops, 10,000 vehicles, 250 aircraft and 65 ships from all 29 alliance members, plus Sweden and Finland. The maneuvers will take place for two weeks in Norway and the air and sea spaces around the country.

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The goal of the exercises is to test and train NATO'sVery High Readiness Joint Task Force and follow-on forces. The rapid reaction force is designed to spearhead a defense against an attack on an alliance member within days and is a component of the NATO Response Force.

The Very High Readiness Joint Task Force was established by the alliance in 2014 as a deterrent in response toRussia's annexation of the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine and Moscow'ssupport for separatists there.

US Navy Admiral James Foggo, head of NATO's Allied Joint Force Command, told reporters in Oslo that the US commitment to the Article 5 mutual defense clause which requires all NATO member states to come to the aid of another was "rock solid."

NATO's "Trident Juncture," the largest military exercise since the end of the Cold War, launched in Norway on October 25 and is due to run until November 7. Some 50,000 troops are taking part in the exercises, including 24,000 navy personnel and 20,000 land forces.

Germany is the second largest contributor to the NATO exercise, coming in behind the United States. Some 10,000 German troops are taking part, with German forces leading one of the land exercises. A total of 31 countries are participating in the exercises, including non-NATO members Finland and Sweden.

NATO's "Trident Juncture" exercise will also see thousands of military vehicles put to use, including some 250 aircraft, 65 ships and over 10,000 vehicles. The United States' nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman will also be taking part.

The scripted maneuvers during "Trident Juncture" are based on a hypothetical scenario where troops have to restore Norway's sovereignty following an attack by a "fictitious aggressor." Norway has grown increasingly nervous about neighboring Russia since it annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. NATO's latest exercise has angered Moscow, which slammed it as an "anti-Russian" and "provocative."

To help ensure that "sensitive areas" like hospitals, schools and drinking water sites aren't affected during the exercise, Norway printed 1.6 million maps for NATO troops to use. The Norwegian Armed Forces estimate 650 tons of laundry will be done during the exercise and some 1.8 million meals.

The exercise area encompasses large areas of land, sea and air space with naval operations stretching along the Norwegian coast and down to Scotland. The focus of the exercise will be on the land exercise in central Norway. Participating troops will be divided into northern and southern forces that will maneuver against one another.

Author: Rebecca Staudenmaier

Russia angered by NATO exercise

Russia, which borders Norway, has been invited to monitor the war games but has issued a condemnation.

"NATO's military activities near our borders have reached the highest level since the Cold War times," Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Wednesday, adding that Trident Juncture is "simulating offensive military action."

Moscow denounced Trident Juncture as an "anti-Russian" exercise: "Such activity... comes across as provocative, even if you try to justify it as being of a purely defensive nature," the Russian embassy in Oslo said on Thursday.

Russia regularly carries out war gamesof its own.

Some German politicians objected to the exercise as well, with the co-leader of the Left party in parliament slamming the move as "ludicrous, dangerous and provocative towards Russia."

"The threat of war is greater than it has been for a long time. The US president threatens nuclear armament against Russia and China and is cancelling nuclear disarmament treaties,"Dietmar Bartsch told German newspaper Neue Osnabrcker Zeitung.

In Trident Juncture,alliance forces will test their readiness to restore sovereignty to Norway following an attack by a "fictitious aggressor."

The German military is participating in the maneuvers with around 10,000 troops and 4,000 vehicles, as well as Tornado and Eurofighter jets and three ships. That makes it the second largest participant after the United States.

At the beginning of 2019, Germany will take over command of the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force for a year.

cw/jm (AFP, AP, dpa)

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NATO launches biggest war games since end of Cold War