
Two convoys of UK Forces military vehicles have been travelling by two different routes to Romania for the NATO ARF Exercise STEADFAST DART.
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As we saw ten days ago, in Scottish Formations En-Route to STEADFAST DART, the Royal Fleet Auxiliary sealift ship MV Hurst Point loaded a mixed convoy of armoured and softskin vehicles, mostly from 7 Light Mechanised Brigade, at the Sea Mounting Centre at Marchwood near Southampton bound for the Greek port of Alexandroúpoli and onward movement north to Romania. A few days before, sister vessel MV Eddystone also loaded a vehicle convoy at Marchwood to deliver them to Emden, on Germany’s North Sea coast, for a five-day drive across Europe to a forward logistic base and the eventual exercise destination of Smârdan Training Area near the border with war-ravaged Southwest Ukraine.






The aim of STEADFAST DART 2025 (STDT25) is to rapidly, in Land Forces terms, deploy a nine nation contingent to reinforce the NATO defensive shield in the Alliance’s South-East Surveillance Area with a specific focus on the Romanian / Bulgarian / Greek sector. The first deployment of SACEUR’s new Allied Response Force or ARF created following the 2022 Russian invasion of Eastern and Northern Ukraine, STDT25 is intended to focus on the planning and execution of a multi-domain defensive operation at short notice.


In addition to the UK contingent, a Spanish Army contingent is also travelling to Greece by sea for onward overland movement to Romania and a French Army contingent is deploying overland by rail. Multinational Special Operations Forces tasked to the ARF will simultaneously deploy to a Bulgarian training area. Following on from the DeployEx phase of STDT25, the British Army’s 7 Light Mechanised Brigade contingent will join the Romanian Army’s Exercise DACIA 25 to practice the transition from National to Alliance defence.




Last Wednesday the Romanian Ministry of National Defence issued the following communiqué:-
MoND Press Release, Bucharest, 22 January 2025: In order to participate in Multinational Exercise STEADFAST DART 25 (STDT25), military equipment and personnel belonging to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland’s armed forces are scheduled to be deployed on Romanian territory, starting Wednesday, January 22nd. The exercise is part of the series of training activities scheduled at Allied level and aims at strengthening the response capacity and interoperability of the participating forces.

The British units will transit and conduct activities in various areas of our country, in cooperation with the national forces and those of other Allied states deployed to Romania. The troop and equipment will be deployed on Nădlac – Cincu – Smîrdan and Negru Vodă – Constanța – Smîrdan route. Also, the French Armed Forces’ military equipment participating in this exercise will arrive by rail, on the Carcassonne (France) – Voila (Romania) route, most likely on February 2nd.
Troop and military equipment belonging to the 15th ‘Podu Înalt’ Mechanised Brigade will also be deployed from the cities of Iași, Piatra Neamț, Bacău, Botoșani, Dej and Turda, to the Smârdan Training Area between January 28th and February 9th. For the smooth running of STDT25, the national authorities, together with the NATO allies, will take all the necessary measures to minimise the impact on local communities and road traffic, the trips being scheduled to take place, predominantly, at night.
NATO exercises such as STDT25 are defensive and transparent, being conducted by fully respecting Romania’s international obligations. We thank the citizens for their understanding and ask the traffic participants to respect the instructions of the representatives of the competent authorities during the deployment of the military equipment.

STEADFAST DART 25 is an exercise planned in 2024, during which, for the first time since its establishment (July 1, 2024), the NATO Response Force will showcase a deployment of troops and military equipment in an operational context. The exercise will demonstrate NATO’s ability to activate the Allied Response Force and coordinate its rapid transition.
The exercise will take place in Bulgaria, Greece and Romania and will include more than 10,000 soldiers from Bulgaria, France, Greece, Italy, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey and the United Kingdom,
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