U.S. Army Soldiers with the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Parachute Infantry
Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade, conduct a live-fire exercise that includes
clearing a bunker and providing support-by-fire as part of Swift Response 23
(SR23)
in San Gregorio, Spain.
SR23 is part of Defender 23, a U.S.
Europe and Africa Command directed multi-national, joint exercise designed
to build readiness and interoperability between U.S. and NATO allies and
partners. Operational readiness across all domains such as air, is paramount
to partnerships, crisis response, deterrence, and support to Allies and
partners.
DEFENDER 23 is a U.S. Army Europe and Africa led exercise focused
on the strategic deployment of continental United States-based forces,
employment of Army Prepositioned Stocks, and interoperability with Allies
and partners. It demonstrates USAREUR-AF’s ability to aggregate U.S.-based combat power
quickly in Eastern Europe, increase lethality of the NATO Alliance through
long-distance fires, build unit readiness in a complex joint, multi-national
environment, and leverage host nation capabilities to increase USAREUR-AF’s
operational reach.
Defender 23 includes more than 7,000 U.S. and 17,000
multi-national service members from more than 20 nations who
will participate including, but not limited to: Estonia,
France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Portugal,
Romania, Spain, United Kingdom and the United States.
U.S. Army video by Staff Sgt. Christopher
Osburn May 11, 2023
