WHAT IS SWIFT RESPONSE?
Swift Response is a U.S. Army Europe-led multinational
training exercise built around a multinational airborne joint forcible
entry operation across four European nations. Swift Response will
demonstrate the alliance's ability to operate from intermediate staging
bases in Europe, conduct simultaneous airborne forcible entry and
follow-on missions.
Swift Response is the largest allied airborne training event on the
continent since the end of the Cold War. More than 4,800 participants
from 11 NATO nations, including Bulgaria, France, Germany, Greece,
Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom and
the United States will take part in the exercise, Aug. 18-Sept. 13 at
training areas in Bulgaria, Germany, Italy and Romania.
The exercise is designed to integrate multiple allied nations'
high-readiness forces to operate as a cohesive team and demonstrate the
alliance's capacity to rapidly deploy and operate in support of
maintaining a strong and secure Europe.
The U.S. contingent will be led by headquarters elements from the Army's
XVIII Airborne Corps and the 4th Infantry Division Mission Command
Element, and will include the Europe-based 173rd Airborne Brigade and
the U.S.-based 1st Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division.
Swift Response 15 marks the first time the 82nd Airborne Division has
operated in Europe since supporting NATO operations in Kosovo in 1999.
The 1st Brigade, 82nd Airborne will assume responsibilities as the
Army's Global Response Force from the 2nd Brigade, 82nd Airborne
Division, at the end of the year, with the mission of being able to
deploy anywhere in the world within 96 hours of notification.