Romania’s participation in Exercise NATO STEADFAST DETERRENCE 2025

Romania participated, over 12–28 May, in Exercise NATO STEADFAST DETERRENCE 2025 (STDC25), organized by Joint Warfare Centre (JWC) in Stavanger, Norway. 

The exercise, directed by the Joint Warfare Centre (JWC), focused on strengthening NATO’s deterrence at the strategic and operational levels and certified SHAPE as a strategic warfighting headquarters for NATO.  

STDC25 was the first exercise in which the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) and United States European Command (USEUCOM) joined together as training audiences, within a multi-domain scenario. 

The exercise contributed to increasing interoperability, testing operational procedures and enhancing cooperation among allies. It also enabled the training of the participating structures in a complex and dynamic scenario, in a coordinated multinational environment.

The Romanian delegation was an inter-institutional one, consisting of representatives of the defence and internal affairs ministries. The participation in STDC25 focused on integrating the participants into a strategic-level response structure dedicated to coordinating the response in crisis situations.

By participating in STDC25, our country reaffirmed its commitment to NATO goals and its active contribution to the joint effort to strengthen the Alliance's deterrence and defence posture.

Approximately 4,800 military and civilian staff participated in Exercise STEADFAST DETERRENCE 2025.

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The coordination and planning efforts of SHAPE and U.S. EUCOM, made over a two-year period, led to the materialization of the most complex, ambitious and realistic scenario reflected within Exercise NATO STEADFAST DETERRENCE 2025.

This strategic-level exercise marked three historic firsts - the certification of SHAPE as a NATO Strategic Warfighting Headquarters, marking the first time when the two commands - SHAPE and U.S. EUCOM – joined together as training audiences; the achievement of convergence between SHAPE and U.S. EUCOM; and the training of the national military representations at SHAPE.

This approach enabled the validation of NATO's defence plans, the demonstration of the Alliance's response capacity to deter conflict and confirmed the transatlantic bond and collective defence.

The Romanian delegation included representatives of the Ministry of National Defence, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Euro-Atlantic Center for Resilience. This national cell coordinated, throughout the exercise, with other international and non-governmental organizations and provided the inter-institutional response to preserve the authenticity of the security environment and enhance civil-military cooperation.

More details about the exercise can be found at the link https://www.jwc.nato.int/article/exercise-steadfast-deterrence-2025-certifies-shape-as-warfighting-hq-enables-operational-convergence-with-useucom/

The Press Office