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How do NATO Allies make sure that they’ll work smoothly together if they were to operate in a city? By training together. Watch Italian, Romanian and Spanish soldiers hone their close-quarters skills.

How do NATO Allied forces learn to operate safely and effectively in urban environments? By training together.
During exercise Steadfast Defender 2021, Italian, Romanian and Spanish troops worked shoulder-to-shoulder on a training course specifically built to simulate the close quarters of urban environments. Working across language barriers and exchanging tactics, the soldiers learned how to clear rooms and cover each other while navigating the course.
Steadfast Defender 2021 was a large-scale NATO exercise, designed to ensure that NATO forces are trained, able to operate together and ready to respond to any threat from any direction, with over 9,000 participants from more than 20 NATO Allies and partners.
Prior to filming, NATO videographers tested negative for COVID-19, allowing them to operate in a bubble alongside the soldiers taking part, who had quarantined prior to deployment. Footage includes shots of Romanian, Italian and Spanish troops participating in urban operations training.

TEXT ON SCREEN:
WHY IS
URBAN OPERATIONS TRAINING IMPORTANT?

—SOUNDBITE—2nd Lieutenant Alexandru-Valentin Neagu, 30th Mountain Battalion, Romanian Army (ROMANIAN, ENGLISH SUBTITLES)

“Urban operations techniques are especially used in fighting terrorism and for hostage situations.

TEXT ON SCREEN:
TERRORISM IS A SERIOUS THREAT ACROSS THE ALLIANCE

TRAINED AND READY TROOPS KEEP US SAFE

TEXT ON SCREEN:
2ND LIEUTENANT ALEXANDRU-VALENTIN NEAGU
30th Mountain Battalion, Romanian Army

—SOUNDBITE—2nd Lieutenant Alexandru-Valentin Neagu, 30th Mountain Battalion, Romanian Army (ROMANIAN, ENGLISH SUBTITLES)

Today we trained with Allies from Italy and Spain. I believe that this joint training from Spain, Italy and Romania is a benefit for us because we observed the techniques and tactics used by everyone.

In my opinion, the most important thing is communication between soldiers. Without that, everything on the battlefield can fall apart.”

TEXT ON SCREEN:
THIS TRAINING WAS PART OF EXERCISE STEADFAST DEFENDER 2021