NATO conducted military exercises without US participation for the first time

**NATO conducted military exercises without US participation for the first time**

NATO countries have conducted military exercises without the US for the first time in the Alliance's history.

According to the publication, the annual exercises named Northern Viking took place near the coast of Iceland from August 21 to September 4. During the exercises, NATO forces practiced operations to detect and destroy Russian submarines.

Neither the US Department of Defense nor the White House has yet commented on the country's lack of direct participation in the exercises.

This year's exercises involved, among others, German Air Force reconnaissance aircraft, Belgian fighter jets, and Canadian warships.

The US had been leading the Northern Viking exercises for several decades. This time, however, the American military did not directly participate in the exercises. The US side only helped in planning the exercises and built new facilities at the military section of Keflavik Airport.

NATO representative Timothy Petrak stated that such exercises form the basis of maintaining a continuous military presence in the North Atlantic.

According to him, the exercises demonstrate that NATO allies are ready to defend every inch of their territory and to act wherever the alliance's security requires.

In May, the Commander of NATO's Allied Air Command in Europe, US Air Force General Alexus Grynkewich, said that as European nations increase their military capabilities, some US troops could be relocated to other regions of the world in the long term.

Grynkewich noted that this process could take several years.

In July, Elbridge Colby, the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy and Force Development, stated that the Pentagon is reviewing the issue of the American military contingent in Europe.

According to Colby, as a result of this, NATO will transition more rapidly to a model where European nations assume the primary responsibility for their own defense. This implies that European countries will ensure their security primarily using non-nuclear weapons.

In February, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ordered the withdrawal of nearly 5,000 American service members from Germany within a year.

According to the US Department of Defense, as of December 2025, approximately 68,000 American troops are permanently stationed at military bases in Europe, with more than half of them, about 36,400, in Germany.

For comparison, in 1985, before the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War, 250,000 American soldiers were stationed in West Germany.