NATO battlegroup in Romania hold military exercise

(9 Feb 2023)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Capu Midia, Romania - 9 February 2023
1. Various of rockets being launched at Capu Midia training facility in eastern Romania
2. Helicopter flying
3. French, Romanian and US troops on the ground
4. Pull out of US troop uniform
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Ltc Brian Fanning, US, commander of first battalion, 320 field artillery:
“You're right, we talk about interoperability a lot, but I think what it means is it allows our nations to work together inside of a common network. And when you see the firepower on display it really comes together inside of our operations centres. And so we have an international agreement called the Artillery Systems Cooperation Agreement and that allows our nations to use our different national systems inside of our communications architecture to bring forward the firepower you saw today."
6. Various of soldiers on and around tanks
7. SOUNDBITE (English) General Tricand de la Goutte, French Command:
"The purpose of this exercise here but also in Cincu, in Smardan area, is to train together and to reinforce our common procedures to be able to deploy if any scenario happens and we have to be in a real defensive scenario."
8. Various of rocket launchers in field
9. SOUNDBITE (Romanian) General Major Dan Toma, Romanian Command, Multi National Division South East:
“This drill Eagle Royal, was a very important experience for us because we wanted the integration of firepower support both from the Romanian army but also from the French and US armies."
10. Rocket launcher
11. Military trucks
12. Various of troops
STORYLINE:
U.S. and French troops that are part of a NATO battlegroup in Romania held a military exercise on Thursday to test the 30-nation alliance’s eastern flank defences.

As Russia’s full-scale invasion of neighbouring Ukraine nears its one-year anniversary, the joint combat drills took place at the Black Sea training range in Capu Midia.

Dubbed Eagle Royal 23, involved some 350 multinational battlegroup troops who practiced firing live ammunition from a U.S.-made HIMARS, a mobile, truck-mounted missile system.

The HIMARS have been successfully used by Ukraine’s military against Russia.

Romania’s defence ministry said that the goal of the drills — held between Feb. 2 to Feb. 10. — is to test NATO’s “interoperability of artillery systems” in a fictitious Article 5 collective defence scenario on the alliance’s southeastern territory.

General Tricand de la Goutte of France, which leads the battlegroup, told the media that the purpose of the drill is to “reinforce common procedures” within the multinational group in case it faces ”a real defensive scenario.”

NATO’s Article 5 is central to its founding treaty.

The clause requires every alliance member to come to the assistance of any ally that requests it.

Article 5 has been invoked only once: by the U.S. in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001.

AP Video shot by: Nicolae Dumitrache

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