Synopsis
Thirteen Allies are participating in NATO’s annual nuclear deterrence exercise Steadfast Noon, a long-planned, routine training activity that is hosted by a different NATO Ally each year. This year, training flights are taking place over Italy, Croatia and the Mediterranean Sea.
Sixty aircraft of various types including advanced fighter jets and US B-52 bombers, as well as conventional jets, surveillance aircraft and refuelling aircraft from Allied air forces are taking part in the exercise to test NATO’s nuclear deterrent. The manoeuvres involve aircraft capable of carrying nuclear warheads but do not involve any live bombs. The exercise runs from 16 to 26 October 2023.
The purpose of NATO’s nuclear capability is to preserve peace, prevent coercion and deter aggression.
Footage includes shots of US and Dutch aircraft taking off and landing. With soundbites from the Chief of NATO Nuclear Operations, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), Col.Daniel Bunch.
Transcript
---SHOTLIST—
(00:00) MEDIUM SHOT – DUTCH AIR FORCE F-16 FIGHTER JET TAXIING TO RUNWAY
(00:05) WIDE SHOT – US AND DUTCH FIGHTER AIRCRAFT TAXIING TO RUNWAY
(00:09) MEDIUM SHOT – DUTCH AIR FORCE F-16 TAKING OFF
(00:17) VARIOUS SHOTS – US AIR FORCE F-16 TAKING OFF
(00:40) VARIOUS SHOTS – DUTCH AIR FORCE F-16 TAKING OFF
(00:52) VARIOUS SHOTS – DUTCH AIR FORCE F-16 TAXIING TO RUNWAY
(01:08) VARIOUS SHOTS – DUTCH AIR FORCE F-16 TAXIING TO RUNWAY
(01:28) SOUNDBITE – COLONEL DANIEL BUNCH – CHIEF OF NATO NUCLEAR OPERATIONS, SUPREME HEADQUARTERS ALLIED POWERS EUROPE (SHAPE)
“Steadfast Noon is our annual live flying nuclear deterrence exercise, consisting of 13 nations, ten participating with aircraft and three sending observers. This reinforces our nuclear deterrence for the NATO Alliance.”
(01:41) SOUNDBITE – COLONEL DANIEL BUNCH – CHIEF OF NATO NUCLEAR OPERATIONS, SUPREME HEADQUARTERS ALLIED POWERS EUROPE (SHAPE)
“Any time we fly, it's a team fight, so that includes aircraft participating in different roles, not in the attack role, but in the support role, including intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets, tanker aircraft, electronic warfare and a host of support aircraft.”
(01:59) SOUNDBITE – COLONEL DANIEL BUNCH – CHIEF OF NATO NUCLEAR OPERATIONS, SUPREME HEADQUARTERS ALLIED POWERS EUROPE (SHAPE)
“Any time the Alliance comes together and works together, we learn from each other, and that's beneficial to us going forward. From the headquarters perspective, we are getting great insight into how our policies and procedures will be interpreted by the Alliance and how they're put into practice.”
(02:16) SOUNDBITE – COLONEL DANIEL BUNCH – CHIEF OF NATO NUCLEAR OPERATIONS, SUPREME HEADQUARTERS ALLIED POWERS EUROPE (SHAPE)
“One of the main differences from the conventional fight is, on the nuclear side, we have an ‘always never’ problem. On the ‘always’ side, we call it positive control, and that is the command and control of that asset. That starts at the political level and goes all the way to the pilot delivering the weapon. On the surety side, or the nuclear surety side, that is to prevent any unauthorised access or protect the weapon against a full series of threats. For instance, one of the things that we're practising this year is fighting against small unmanned aerial vehicles and the threat that they pose. And we see that obviously in different fights, in different conflicts throughout the world”.
(02:55) SOUNDBITE – COLONEL DANIEL BUNCH – CHIEF OF NATO NUCLEAR OPERATIONS, SUPREME HEADQUARTERS ALLIED POWERS EUROPE (SHAPE)
“As we come together as an Alliance and fight together in Steadfast Noon, one of the things that we are protecting against is the chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear effects. Together as an Alliance, we bring together different capabilities and different contributions from the Allies. And as we do that, we learn from each other and we are able to provide a more robust protection for those assets.”
(03:20) SOUNDBITE – COLONEL DANIEL BUNCH – CHIEF OF NATO NUCLEAR OPERATIONS, SUPREME HEADQUARTERS ALLIED POWERS EUROPE (SHAPE)
“One of the benefits of working together as an Alliance is as we bring on new capabilities, such as fifth-generation aircraft, we learn from the nations that are starting with those aircraft and then being able to incorporate the tactics, techniques and procedures that they learn, into the nuclear mission, which benefits the Alliance as a whole.”
(03:39) SOUNDBITE – COLONEL DANIEL BUNCH – CHIEF OF NATO NUCLEAR OPERATIONS, SUPREME HEADQUARTERS ALLIED POWERS EUROPE (SHAPE)
“NATO is not new to nuclear deterrence, and we've been doing exercise Steadfast Noon for decades. In the past few years, we've talked about it more to be more transparent. But as long as nuclear weapons exist, NATO will remain a nuclear alliance and it will remain safe, secure and effective.”
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