Were the words used repeatedly by the Commander of NATO’s Joint Force Command, Naples, Admiral Stuart B Munsch in his address to the massed ranks of the world’s media during Exercise Steadfast Dart.
Soldiers from The 4th Royal Regiment Scotland take time out of building the trenches to introduce their Romanian counterparts to the bagpipes. Copyright - NATO
Soldiers from 4th Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland night trench clearance on Exercise Steadfast Dart at Smardan Training area in Romania.
Highlander Jones Reid on action while clearing the trenches on Exercise Steadfast Dart in Romania.
British Officer from the 4th Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland, had a look at the Romanian assault rifle as they showcased their weapons and equipment on a multinational weapon handling day during Exercise Steadfast Dart.
He was speaking following a mightily impressive show of strength laid on to introduce the world to the capabilities of the alliance’s recently formed Allied Reaction Force (ARF) at the media demonstration day held on the Smârdan military training area in eastern Romania, a mere 16 miles from the border with Ukraine.
Formed only last summer (2024), the ARF is a multi-domain capable force meaning that it combines land, air, naval, cyber and space components to deliver an agile and flexible highly scalable force capable of carrying out a full spectrum of missions. Speaking of the ARF, Admiral Stuart B Munsch described it as, “Leading this exercise in 2025 the Allied Reaction Force is a strategic high readiness, multi-domain and multi-national war fighting team that can be deployed immediately at the direction of the Supreme Allied Commander Europe.”
Leading this exercise in 2025 the Allied Reaction Force is a strategic high readiness, multi-domain and multi-national war fighting team that can be deployed immediately at the direction of the Supreme Allied Commander Europe.
Exercise Steadfast Dart was the first time the ARF had been rolled out in earnest. The real purpose of the exercise was to prove the ability to surge mass numbers of troops and equipment to a specific region should any ‘inch’ of territory be threatened.
In all, nine countries took part in the exercise and so for its pièce de résistance, the combined arms battle, played out in front of hundreds of cameras, journalists, and NATO’s hierarchy, saw Spanish AV8-B fast jets scream overhead as attack helicopters provided close air support. Romanian TR85 main battle tanks roared into view firing to soften up an enemy trench system ahead of the soldiers from 4 Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland (4 SCOTS) who leapt from their Foxhound armoured vehicles. They skirmished forwards to those enemy trenches and, in a crescendo to the demo, charged forward hurling grenades to finish off any remaining resistance.
Although the combat element to the media day had finished, 4 SCOTS would ultimately steal the show; as the Romanian tanks all fired in unison marking the end of the display, the haunting skirl of bagpipes drifted across the scene and, in a carefully choreographed piece of military theatre, a lone piper emerged through the acrid green smoke to the eager applause of all before him.
Speaking of his troops’ participation, the Commanding Officer of 4 SCOTS, Lieutenant Colonel Gordon Muir said, “The demonstration was a combination of several weeks of training here on Ex Steadfast Dart between multi-national allies. It showed how we can operate as Supreme Allied Commander’s first responders; what we saw was a whole range of capabilities working together.”
The demonstration was a combination of several weeks of training here on Ex Steadfast Dart between multi-national allies. It showed how we can operate as Supreme Allied Commander’s first responders; what we saw was a whole range of capabilities working together.”
It would be fair to say that the war in Ukraine has heralded a sea change in the British Army’s combat focus. For many years it has concentrated on counter insurgency operations and fighting against guerilla tactics; however, lessons being learned in Ukraine mean that there is a shift back to a more traditional peer on peer scenario. Lieutenant Colonel Gordon Muir explained, “It is a mixture of remembering old lessons; the infantry has always had to dig in at some point or another to hold a defensive position. What we are seeing from a Ukrainian perspective is this on multiple social media forums. A lot more people are interested and taking notice of what conflict looks like and unfortunately it looks a lot like it did 100 years ago.”
Two and a half hours drive further east near the small town of Babdag, close to the shores of the Black Sea, were The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (SCOTS DG). Described as the tip of the spear, the Scots DG are the lead component within the ISTAR Battlegroup (Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance). Equipped with the open topped Jackal high-mobility vehicle, the Scots DG are the eyes and ears of the ARF and would be the first on the ground in the event of the ARF being activated. Their purpose is to gain an understanding of the enemy’s movements, force structure and strength and pass it back to the other battlegroups.
Proving that we are rapidly deployable and can sustain ourselves in the environment which we may be required to fight absolutely gives us that confidence we can endure the conditions here.
Lieutenant Colonel Ben Parkyn, the Commanding Officer of the SCOTS DG, said “Proving that we are rapidly deployable and can sustain ourselves in the environment which we may be required to fight absolutely gives us that confidence we can endure the conditions here.”
The SCOTS DG location was a little more isolated from the rest of the exercising troops, high up on the plain from which you could look across to the Black Sea stretching off into the east. Temperatures averaged around minus five degrees centigrade and the ever-present wind sent that figure plunging further. Pity the poor guards stagging on an hour at a time in such freezing conditions with the not-so-distant howling wolves for comfort.
As previously explained, Exercise Steadfast Dart was designed as a deployex, to prove that the ARF can deploy en-masse over prolonged distances to deter would be aggressors and to reassure the regional populace. The area of Romania that was used is in one of the two strategically vital geographic pinch points for NATO. Last year, Exercise Steadfast Defender took place across northern Europe, including Poland, Germany, Lithuania and Latvia. Then the emphasis was on the Suwalki Gap, the 65km corridor that separates Belarus from the Russian enclave of the Kaliningrad Oblast. For Exercise Steadfast Dart, it was the Focşani Gate, an area nestling between the Black Sea and the Carpathian Mountains
Its strategic location has made the area a coveted prize for various empires and kingdoms down through the ages; the Ottomans, Hungarians, the Byzantian empire and the Nazis have all fought to command this part of eastern Europe. Control of the Focşani Gate allows access to vast tracts of Romania and the lower reaches of the mighty Danube. Clearly, some of the more strategically important inches of NATO territory to defend.
