The operation involved 11,000 U.S. and NATO military members from 20 countries, including: Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and the U.K.
Saber Strike 17 worked to conduct integrated, deterrence-oriented field training exercises with NATO’s Forward Presence Battlegroups in a push to boost the inter-operability and readiness of the coalition’s armed forces, the U.S. Air Force said Friday.
Participants demonstrated the joint and combined capacities of the U.S. and NATO military personnel at the Adazi Military Base in Latvia.
Saber Strike was established to foster cooperation between the U.S, allied and partner nations as well as boost joint operational capacity in multiple missions.
This year’s event worked to promote regional stability and the participating nations worked to bolster partner capacities.
“This exercise demonstrates what happens when many NATO allies come together to cooperate and demonstrate the interoperability that we have,” said Nancy Bikoff Pettit, the U.S. ambassador to Latvia.