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Tanks belonging to NATO member countries conducting joint exercises in Latvia. Photo/Yahoo
JAKARTA – NATO (The North Atlantic Treaty Organization) or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is an international scale military alliance that is known and highly respected in the world. This alliance was formed in 1949, at the same time the Washington Treaty was signed. The basic purpose of establishing NATO is to protect the freedom and security of allies through military and political means.
Based on data on its official website, NATO consists of 30 countries, including the United States (US), Britain, Croatia, Poland, Portugal, Norway, the Netherlands, Italy, Turkey, Spain, Denmark, and many more.
Of course, one thing that stands out the most from NATO is its military strength. If seen, NATO is inhabited by countries with strong militaries. Global Firepower, which ranks the military strength of countries in the world, states that two NATO member countries, namely the US and the UK, are in the top 5 countries with the best militaries.
The US is in first place, while the UK is in fifth position. The US is also a NATO member country that has the most military personnel, namely 1.3 million people. Turkey follows in second place with 446 thousand people, and France is in third place with 207 thousand military personnel. Overall, NATO will have 3.3 million personnel in 2022. This figure is an increase compared to the previous year’s 3.27 million.
NATO member countries that have nuclear warheads are the US, UK and France. In total, NATO member countries have at least 6 thousand nuclear warheads. NATO also has AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control) aircraft and Global Hawk reconnaissance drones.
The main role of NATO forces is to maintain peace and guarantee the territorial integrity of its member countries. In the activities and training agenda published by NATO, it is known that there are several important military exercises that will be carried out throughout this year.
The closest agenda will be February 20-24 2023 in the North Atlantic. The exercise, called Dynamic Guard 23, concentrates on increasing the proficiency of military personnel while training NATO response forces in ongoing military operations. From 26 April to 13 May 2023, NATO will hold the Noble Jump II 2023 program in Italy. The aim is to increase the responsiveness of NATO forces and practice deployment and operational arrangements. The exercise will galvanize troops on standby when deployed to allied countries.
In the context of issues that are still hotly discussed, such as the wars in Ukraine and Russia, NATO clearly condemns this. For NATO, Ukraine is a free and independent country, as well as a NATO partner. Therefore, NATO and its allies continue to provide assistance to Ukraine. Assistance to Ukraine was also provided in 2014, when Russia’s annexation of Crimea occurred. NATO member countries, such as the US and the UK, sent defense equipment to help the Ukrainian military forces on the battlefield.
(ian)
