Nine NATO Allies gathered in the Polish-led multinational Exercise DRAGON 2024 involving infantry operations, urban combat and tank live-fire.
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Nine Allies are participating in the Polish-led multinational exercise DRAGON 2024. It involves troops from France, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia, Spain, Türkiye, the United Kingdom and the United States. The exercise helps NATO Allies train on military operations at both the tactical and operational level. It involves training on infantry operations and urban combat, and a live-fire tank exercise.
Exercise DRAGON falls under STEADFAST DEFENDER 2024, NATO’s largest exercise in decades. STEADFAST DEFENDER 2024 is testing the Alliance’s new regional defence plans with forces practising rapid deployment and combat in both Norway and Poland. It is enabling Allies to demonstrate their ability to command and control large ground, air and sea forces across significant distances, within the Euro-Atlantic area. Exercise DRAGON 2024 ran from 4 to 14 March.
This NATO Multimedia B-roll footage, filmed on Monday, includes shots of a Polish Pilica anti-aircraft system operating, US troops practising tank recovery operations, M1 Abrams tanks firing, troops embarking and disembarking from a Bradley Fighting Vehicle, and trench-clearing operations, as well as French infantry firing, and going through urban combat training. Footage also includes interviews with two French and one US officer.
Shot list:-
- 00:00 ~ Polish Pilica anti-aircraft system tracking a drone
- 00:21 ~ Slow motion shots of Polish anti-aircraft system being operated
- 01:08 ~ US armoured recovery vehicle preparing moving in place for a recovery operation during the exercise
- 01:28 ~ US Army soldiers engaging in a recovery operation during the exercise
- 02:17 ~ M1 Abrams tanks manoeuvring to a firing range
- 02:31 ~ US armoured recovery vehicle moving to a firing range
- 02:40 ~ M1 Abrams tanks standing by on a firing range
- 02:45 ~ M1 Abrams tanks firing
- 02:58 ~ M1 Abrams tanks manoeuvring back to base
- 03:35 ~ French VBCI vehicles (armoured infantry fighting vehicle) manoeuvring in an open field
- 04:04 ~ French troops setting up position and preparing to open fire on a firing range during the exercise
- 04:39 ~ French troops opening fire on a firing range during the exercise
- 04:56 ~ French troops standing by on a firing range
- 05:00 ~ French troops embarking in an armoured VBCI
- 05:08 ~ French armoured VBCI closing its hatch and driving away
- 05:23 ~ A US Army Bradley fighting vehicle and US troops moving into position for an infantry trench-clearing exercise
- 05:34 ~ US troops disembarking from a US Army Bradley fighting vehicle
- 05:39 ~ a US Army Bradley fighting vehicle closing its hatch, while other Bradleys move into position on a firing range
- 05:45 ~ US troops moving through a trench complex during a trench-clearing operation during the exercise
- 06:00 ~ US troops setting up position in a trench complex
- 06:37 ~ US troops moving out of the trench complex
- 06:46 ~ A US Army Bradley fighting vehicle manoeuvring and opening hatch for US troops
- 06:57 ~ US troops embarking on a Bradley fighting vehicle
- 07:12 ~ A French soldier firing a machine gun from a window during urban combat training
- 07:24 ~ French troops manoeuvring in, out and around buildings during urban combat training
- 08:04 ~ Soundbite (French) – Captain Pierre-Louis, Deputy Officer, 5th DRAGONs Regiment, French Army: “We’re participating in the Polish exercise, DRAGON 24. It’s a Polish national exercise, some NATO members were invited, France being one of the invitees.”
- 08:15 ~ Soundbite (French) – Captain Pierre-Louis: “The exercise consists of three phases. A logistical deployment from France. A tactical and technical deployment on the ground, which lasted from our arrival on 21 February up until two days ago, in which we had a wet-gap crossing of the Vistula, a 300-km advance to contact. We’re now starting the last phase, a live-fire phase with a combined-arms, joint, Allied exercise.”
- 08:42 ~ Soundbite (French) – Captain Pierre-Louis: “We haven’t done the armoured vehicle part since 1996 and now we are doing it in a joint and multinational setting. So it’s especially interesting for us. From my unit’s point of view, it allows us to push our vehicles to their limits. We don’t often do 300 km in a row with a battle tank.”
- 09:00 ~ Soundbite (French) – Captain Pierre-Louis: “We’re entering a new era. Until now we were in a low-intensity era. The balance of power was systematically in our favour. Today with the feedback we’re getting from everything that’s happening all around the world, we’ve entered a new phase where we’re going to focus on high intensity. Instead of having a fight between the strong and the weak, we’re now going to have a fight between the strong and the strong; with the same technological capabilities, the same infrastructure, with sometimes situations where we’ll be destabilised. It’s something we feel when we train and we’re taking into account the whole variety of threats, that have been present since 2022 but also for the last five to six years in other parts of the world.
- 09:38 ~ Soundbite – Lieutenant Colonel Kenton Komives, Commander, 3-15 Infantry Battalion, US Army
- 10:10 ~ Soundbite – Lieutenant Colonel Kenton Komives
- 10:29 ~ Soundbite – Lieutenant Colonel Kenton Komives
- 10:54 ~ Soundbite – Lieutenant Colonel Kenton Komives
- 11:21 ~ Soundbite – Colonel Philippe, Commander, 35th Infantry Regiment, French Army
- 11:44 ~ Soundbite – Colonel Philippe
- 11:54 ~ Soundbite – Colonel Philippe
- 12:11 ~ Soundbite – Colonel Philippe
- 12:33 ~ Soundbite – Colonel Philippe
- 12:55 ~ Soundbite – Colonel Philippe
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