The North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s press service has announced an annual crisis management exercise that runs from March 9 to March 15. The event is designed to evaluate how decision-making and consultation work at the highest strategic military-political level, ensuring that the alliance can coordinate under pressure and maintain cohesive responses across member states.
Officials emphasized that the drills will involve civil and military headquarters in NATO member countries, together with the headquarters and strategic commands in Sweden and Finland. This setup highlights the alliance’s broader regional cooperation and the integration of civilian agencies with military leadership to handle wide-ranging contingency scenarios.
The alliance further clarified that deployed combat forces will not participate in the exercises. Instead, the focus remains on command-and-control processes, information sharing, and liaison mechanisms that enable rapid, synchronized action without risking live operational deployments during the exercise window.
The exercise is described as a test of complex responses to a multifaceted civil-military scenario in a hybrid environment. Practically, this means combining conventional military elements with non-traditional threats such as information operations, cyber considerations, and public health or infrastructure disruptions, all within a simulated but realistic crisis landscape.
Earlier reporting noted that the 41st motorized rifle brigade of the German army, comprising about 600 soldiers and roughly 240 pieces of equipment, was positioned to participate in Griffin Lightning exercises in Lithuania. The movement reflects ongoing multinational engagement and the willingness of alliance partners to practice joint planning and interoperability under varied conditions, strengthening readiness for a broad spectrum of potential challenges.