The Bundeswehr is the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. The Bundeswehr is divided into a military part and a civil part, the military part consisting of the German Army, the German Navy, the German Air Force, the Joint Support Service, the Joint Medical Service, and the Cyber and Information Domain Service.
Exercise Campaign Reforger was an annual military exercise and campaign conducted by NATO during the Cold War. The exercise was intended to ensure that NATO had the ability to quickly deploy forces to West Germany in the event of a conflict with the Warsaw Pact. Although most troops deployed were from the United States, the operation also involved a substantial number of troops from other NATO countries including Canada and the United Kingdom.
The Allied Command Europe Mobile Force (AMF) was a small NATO quick reaction force, headquartered at Heidelberg, Germany, active from 1960 to 2002. It formed part of Allied Command Europe (ACE), headquartered at SHAPE at Casteau, Belgium. The land component of the force, consisting of a brigade-sized formation of about 5,000 personnel, was composed of units from 14 NATO states. HQ CO US AMF(L) Infantry was at Coleman Barracks, Mannheim, GE 95-02 HQ AMF (L) was at Sullivan Barracks, Mannheim, 1975-91 and Turley Barracks, Mannheim, 1991 -95.
Cold-weather warfare, also known as arctic warfare or winter warfare, encompasses military operations affected by snow, ice, thawing conditions, or cold, both on land and at sea, as well as the strategies and tactics used by military forces in these situations and environments.
The NATO Response Force (NRF) is a high-readiness NATO rapid deployment force comprising land, sea, air, and special forces units capable of being deployed quickly within short notice. The NRF currently comprises up to 40,000 troops, with plans to increase its manpower to over 300,000 troops. Its forces include units from several non-NATO member partners, including Ukraine, and Georgia. Its forces also include units from Sweden, which joined the Response Force in 2013 and became a NATO member in 2024.
Anti-NATO protests took place in the Ukrainian port city of Feodosia from late May to early June 2006, partially disrupting a joint Ukrainian-U.S. military exercise, which was canceled 20 July 2006.
Nordic Response is the name given to Norwegian led military exercises with NATO member countries and invited Partnership for Peace countries held in Norway every second year.
With a contingent of 4,350 soldiers and policemen, Germany was one of the main contributors of troops to coalition operations in Afghanistan. Although German troops mainly operated in the comparatively quiet north of the country, the Bundeswehr suffered a number of casualties during participation in the International Security Assistance Force mission in Afghanistan.
The Bergen-Hohne Training Area is a NATO military training area in the southern part of the Lüneburg Heath, in the state of Lower Saxony in northern Germany. It covers an area of 284 square kilometres, which makes it the largest military training area in Germany.
The following addresses the events in Northern Afghanistan between April 2009 and 2014. While this part of the country had long been relatively peaceful compared to the all-out war zones of the south and east, tensions would flare up again in 2008 when the German soldiers deployed to the area came under attack more often, leading to the deaths of the several soldiers. Previously hindered by national caveats, the deteroriating security situation prompted the German-led Regional Command North to launch a series of operations to take on the rising insurgency. Concerted operations began after an insurgent attack on PRT Kunduz within minutes of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's departure from a visit. Within two years, the German presence would be doubled and additional reinforcements from the American ISAF contingent were called in, including heavy German armoured vehicles and US aviation assets, allowing for a more aggressive approach towards the insurgency.
The Bundeswehr Cross of Honour for Valour is the highest military decoration of the Bundeswehr. It is the highest class of the Bundeswehr Cross of Honour. The decoration is the first combat valour award presented by Germany since World War II.
Neuburg Air Base is a military air base in Germany. It is located in the district of Neuburg-Schrobenhausen on the Danube River, approximately 20 km west-southwest of Ingolstadt. Its primary user is Jagdgeschwader 74 of the German Air Force (Luftwaffe), which provides air defence for Southern Germany. Since 2006 Eurofighter Typhoons have been operated from the base. Although Neuburg is the smallest fighter aircraft base in the Bundeswehr, the air base was virtually unaffected by the Bundeswehr reform announced in 2011.
Zapad 2017 was a joint strategic military exercise of the armed forces of the Russian Federation and Belarus that formally began on 14 September 2017 and ended on 20 September 2017, in Belarus as well as in Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast and Russia's other north-western areas in the Western Military District. According to the information made public by the Defence Ministry of Belarus prior to the exercise, fewer than 13,000 personnel of the Union State were to take part in the military maneuvers, a number that was not supposed to trigger mandatory formal notification and invitation of observers under the OSCE's Vienna Document.
Vostok 2018 was a large-scale Russian military exercise, held from 11 to 17 September 2018, throughout Siberia and the Russian Far East in the Eastern Military District. The exercise involved units from the Army, Air Force and Navy. China and Mongolia, which also participated, became the first countries outside of the former Soviet Union to join the Vostok exercises.
The communications systems of the German armed forces (Bundeswehr) include the strategic communication, information systems for the command and control of combined arms forces. It also covers military intelligence, weather forecasting, and aviation of all branches of the German armed forces.
Zapad 2021 was a joint strategic exercise between the armed forces of the Russian Federation and Belarus, which took place from 10 to 15 September 2021. According to the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation, approximately 200,000 military personnel, up to 760 pieces of equipment, and 15 ships participated in the exercises.
Air Defender 23 is the name of a major maneuver of armed forces of member states of NATO and other European countries in European airspace in 2023. It lasted 10 days, from 12 June to 23 June 2023. Although Air Defender 23 was not an exercise of NATO, but initiated by the Bundeswehr, it was the largest exercise of air forces announced since NATO was founded. The maneuver took place in the airspace of the Federal Republic of Germany, under the leadership of the German Air Force. It involved up to 10,000 soldiers and 250 aircraft from 25 countries.
Steadfast Defender is the name of a series of NATO exercises. The latest exercise, being held in 2024, is the largest since the Cold War. The first one was held in 2021, and they are planned to be held every three years.
