Defender Europe 2020 in light of Coronavirus Emergency

The Coronavirus emergency, that hit first Asia for then arriving in Europe and in the rest of the world, is having an impressive impact also on the military sector. Indeed, every single nation had to reconsider its deployments abroad and reorganise its academic, training and operational activities on the national territory. This has been done both for containing the contagion among Defence personnel and making military medical personnel available to civilian hospitals in difficulty. Moreover, many soldiers have been employed for supporting the work of the Police in enforcing new national directives on the contagion containment. In this context, many events of various type have been cancelled or postponed, among which the famous DIMDEX in Qatar (Doha International Maritime Defence Exhibition and Conference) and numerous EU meetings relevant to the Defence sector. Also Defender Europe 2020, that was supposed to be the largest euro-atlantic military drill since the Cold War times, has undergone the consequences of the quick spread of Covid-19. Indeed, despite it has been confirmed for the next April-May, Defender Europe 2020 will be deeply reduced in numbers, according to still uncertain estimates. Firstly, the United States have communicated they will sensibly reduce the number of soldiers involved in the next training activities in Europe. If initially a deployment of 20,000 US troops was expected, following the outbreak of the pandemic, the Secretary of Defence has decided to block any movement of personnel and military assets from the United States overseas. In fact, only the combat team of the armoured brigade already present on the European territory will take part in the war games. Instead, all other military personnel who have already landed in Europe for the exercise will have to return home. On its side, Italy has decided not to take part in Defender Europe 2020 anymore. As communicated by the Minister of Defence Lorenzo Guerini, our military personnel will remain on the national territory to support the institutions during the health emergency linked to Covid-19. In fact, in these days of crisis in which it is possible to move in the streets only for strict needs, the controls in the cities have had to increase and, therefore, the men and women of the Armed Forces have received the status of security operator to be able to support the work of the Police Force.

Read the Report