Exercise Steadfast Noon, NATO’s annual nuclear deterrence exercise, is being held over October 14 to 24, 2024 and is being run alongside Exercise Strike Warrior.
A NATO spokesperson exclusively told Key.Aero that Steadfast Noon will take place in UK, Danish and Dutch airspace with some aircraft deployed to bases in the UK, Belgium, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands. Other countries where aircraft will fly out of are Italy and the US.
The list of aircraft types and air arms supplied to Key.Aero that are participating in this year’s Steadfast Noon is: Belgian Air Component F-16 Fighting Falcon; Czech Air Force JAS-39 Gripen; Royal Danish Air Force F-16; German Air Force A400M, EF-2000 and Tornado; Finnish Air Force F/A-18 Hornet; Hellenic Air Force F-16; Italian Air Force Tornado and KC-767; NATO E-3A; NATO Multinational Tanker Unit A330 MRTT; RAF Typhoon, Voyager and RAF/RN F-35B Lightning; Royal Netherlands Air Force F-35A Lightning; Polish Air Force F-16; Romanian Air Force F-16; Turkish Air Force F-16; US Air Force B-52H Stratofortress; F-15E Strike Eagle, F-35 and KC-135 Stratotanker.
Regarding the two exercises the NATO spokesperson stated: “Strike Warrior runs parallel with Steadfast Noon 24; use of the same exercise airspace; respective flight operations are time wise separated. Some Steadfast Noon participants will also take part in Strike Warrior 24 outside of Steadfast Noon flying periods.”
Last year’s Steadfast Noon had sorties taking place over Italy, Croatia and the Mediterranean Sea and involved up to 60 aircraft. For the 2022 edition sorties were flown over Belgium, the North Sea and United Kingdom. The UK's Ministry of Defence gave notification at the time that Low Flying Areas 11 and 12 on the east of the UK and 17 further west were to be used in the exercise. No similar information has so far been released by the MoD.
Commenting on 2022’s iteration of Steadfast Noon, NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu said: “This exercise helps ensure that the Alliance’s nuclear deterrent remains safe, secure and effective.” NATO’s Strategic Concept states “the fundamental purpose of NATO’s nuclear capability is to preserve peace, prevent coercion and deter aggression.” No live weapons are carried by aircraft during the exercise.
Only a number of NATO countries have aircraft which are dual capable and therefore able to utilise conventional as well as nuclear weapons, which in the case of Germany and Italy is the Tornado. Non-nuclear capable fast jets participate in Steadfast Noon as part of the Support of Nuclear Operations with Conventional Air Tactics (SNOWCAT) programme, while others will likely play the role of Red Air.
The name of Exercise Strike Warrior suggests it is a UK-run exercise, as it fits into the naming convention of others like Cobra Warrior and Joint Warrior for example.
