More than 500,000 virtual soldiers and thousands of military training in NATO command structures, all to test the operational capability of the Multinational North East Corps. The “Loyal Leda’26” exercises confirmed the full preparation of Alliance units to carry out combat tasks.
The goal of the “Loyal Leda’26” exercise was to test operational capability in an allied environment co-created by the command of corps specified as the Multinational Corps Northeast NATO, fast Deployable Corps – Spain, German-Netherlands Corps and Command 2 of the Polish Corps. The combat preparedness test in the area of the 102nd Kobylanka Conservation Battalion lasted nearly 2 weeks.
Corps is ready.
More than 500 1000 virtual soldiers were active in the 24-hour operations, as well as 10,000 military units located at the NATO Joint Force Training Centre in Bydgoszcz. “The coordination of land and air forces was an additional aspect of this year’s exercises against the background of the exercises conducted so far, which are held all 4 years according to the principles of the Alliance. The Corps has proven to be able to defy attacks and defend its borders, if necessary," says deputy commander of the Allied Command of the Local Forces Gen. Jez Bennett.
Three years of preparation
Certification is simply a summary of the three-year period of preparation of the commanders and soldiers of the corps who have improved their combat skills through workshops, exercises and operating and training methods. Validation confirms in accordance with all NATO standards that the corps has achieved its ability to carry out operations and command in a multi-domain environment – involving multiple forces simultaneously. “The command of the structure of global troops disciplines us to be liable for the border area of the east flank of NATO”, says Multinational Corps commander Gen. Dariusz Parylak. “The accomplishment of specified combat capacity is the sum of the interaction of the air and sea components, peculiar troops, cyberspace defence troops,” he adds.
Virtual military side by side with real
"Loyal Leda'26" is simply a command-and-stack exercise which, by means of ultra-realistic computer simulation, has checked the Corps Command's ability to conduct an operation based on the script of launching Article 5 of the North Atlantic Alliance. In order to reflect as closely as possible the operational conditions for exercisers, the staff was deployed outside the Baltic and Szczecin barracks. As NATO puts emphasis on the transformation of land troops, the exercises were besides a test of preparing soldiers for command taking into account the fresh realities of the battlefield.
Multinational North-East Corps was formed in 1999 in Szczecin. Currently, the tactical union consists of representatives of 22 countries, including Turkey, the United States and the Baltic countries. The certification of the corps was given a symbolic date – it was held on the 27th anniversary of Poland's accession to NATO.
