RAMSTEIN, Germany - NATO’s exercise Steadfast Deterrence 25, run from May 24 to 28, 2025, marking a major milestone in the Alliance’s effort to enhance collective defence and operational integration.
Planned and coordinated by Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) and directed by NATO’s Joint Warfare Centre (JWC), the computer-assisted command post exercise (CAX/CPX) was the first of its kind, training and certifying SHAPE as a NATO Strategic Warfighting Headquarters (SWHQ).
It really makes us proud to execute an exercise which is truly at the heart of NATO’s warfighting transformation
“Steadfast Deterrence 25 is the first ever opportunity to train and evaluate NATO’s Strategic Warfighting HQ at scale, side by side with USEUCOM and within a theatre-wide crisis,” said SHAPE Chief of Staff General Markus Laubenthal. “It really makes us proud to execute an exercise which is truly at the heart of NATO’s warfighting transformation.”
By incorporating space-based assets into major exercises, NATO ensures forces train as they fight, with realism and readiness. Photo courtesy of Allied Air Command
The computer-assisted command post exercise trained and certified SHAPE as a NATO Strategic Warfighting Headquarters. Photo courtesy of the Joint Warfare Centre
NATO’s space-enabled exercises demonstrate how integrating all domains enhance operational decision-making in real time. Photo courtesy of Allied Air Command
Allied Air Command served as a secondary training audience during the exercise, benefiting from the fictitious, yet geographically accurate, scenario to exercise tactics, techniques and procedures.
The Space Domain plays a vital role in NATO exercises by ensuring secure satellite communications, navigation, and early warning systems that enable realistic, high-impact training across land, air, sea, and cyber domains. By incorporating space-based assets—such as GPS navigation, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR), satellite communications, space weather and missile warning—into major exercises, NATO ensures forces train as they fight, with realism and readiness at the forefront.
NATO’s space-enabled exercises demonstrate how integrated satellite systems, data-sharing frameworks, and multinational planning enhance operational decision-making in real time. Space capabilities are no longer a backdrop—they are central to every mission. NATO’s investment in the Space Domain prepares Allied forces for the complex, contested environments of tomorrow.
The Combined Space Component Command strengthens NATO’s ability to operate in a multi-domain battlespace, bringing integrated space capabilities that enhance situational awareness and mission effectiveness.
The exercise is considered one of NATO’s most complex this year, focusing on multi-domain readiness and interoperability in the Euro-Atlantic region. Steadfast Deterrence 25 aimed to strengthen NATO’s deterrence capabilities at the operational and strategic levels, focusing on multi-domain readiness, based on a multiple joint operations area training scenario.