NATO is launching a major air exercise on Monday, coordinated by Germany, aimed at demonstrating the unity of its members in the face of potential threats, especially from Russia, AFP reports.

The Air Defender 23 exercise will last until June 23 and will involve around 250 military aircraft from 25 NATO member states and partners, including Japan and Sweden, a candidate country for joining the North Atlantic Alliance.

Up to 10,000 people will take part in these exercises aimed at strengthening cooperation and defense against drones and cruise missiles in the event of an attack on cities, airports or ports located on NATO territory.

The exercises were conceived in 2018, partly in response to Russia’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014, although they are not aimed at anyone in particular, German Air Force Commander General Ingo Herharz said during a presentation of the exercises.

NATO is determined to defend “every centimeter” of its territory, but “no flight will be directed, for example, at Kaliningrad,” a Russian enclave that borders NATO members Poland and Lithuania, the German general assured. defense alliance and this is how this exercise is planned,” he insisted.

But these maneuvers will also be aimed at sending a signal, especially to Russia, US Ambassador to Germany Amy Gutmann explained to the press: “I would be very surprised if the world leader did not consider that this shows the spirit of these alliances, which means the strength of this of the alliance, and that includes Mr. Putin,” the American ambassador asserted. “Thanks to synchronization, we increase our power,” she added.

According to Ambassador Gutmann, there are no plans to make Air Defender exercises regular at this stage. But, she added, “we don’t want these exercises to be the last.”

The training will include operational-tactical training mainly in Germany, as well as in the Czech Republic, Estonia and Latvia. On Friday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz will visit the pilots at the base of Schleswig-Jagel Airfield in northern Germany.

According to General Michael Loch, the exercises will aim to “complement the permanent presence of the United States in Europe” and provide training “on a larger scale than what is normally conducted on the continent”.