Luxembourgish troops participate in NATO exercise in Sardinia

The exercise, named "Noble Jump 23," has brought together elements of the "Very High Readiness Joint Task Force," comprising military units capable of swift emergency response.

Over several days, Luxembourgish army units are actively engaged in this large-scale exercise, which encompasses ground and aerial operations.

An RTL team will be on site in Sardinia to cover the grand finale of this exercise on Friday with live demonstrations.

The last two weeks have been busy for the 2,200 soldiers from seven NATO countries – Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Czechia, Latvia, Belgium, and Luxembourg – who have gathered in Sardinia. They have tested various scenarios, ranging from large-scale operations to smaller tactical manoeuvres. The organisers of the Atlantic Alliance consider it important to stress that these are defence scenarios.

The deployment of 500 military vehicles, including the renowned 67-tonne Leopard-2 tanks from Germany and Norway, some of which have seen service in Ukraine, underscores the scale of the exercise. The vehicles on the ground receive air support from German Tiger helicopters and drones from Germany and Luxembourg.

Colonel Alain Schoeben commands the Luxembourgish army unit. One notable aspect of the exercise is a rescue manoeuvre, involving the rapid and efficient extraction of wounded soldiers from the battlefield via helicopter. Parachute units are also deployed.

The entire exercise is taking place at the Cape Teulada military base, about 60 kilometres from the town of Cagliari in Sardinia. The  exercise was being conducted by NATO's operational headquarters in Naples. Italy was the hosting nation.

NATO's Response Force was created in 2002 to provide rapid military responses to escalating crises. While primarily defensive in nature, it remains to be seen whether it is also a show of force towards the Kremlin.