USNI News:

The Army is concentrating this year’s major European Defender exercise on training for high-end warfare in the Balkans and the Black Sea, the service’s top general there said last week.

Speaking at an online forum of the Association of the United States Army, Gen. Christopher Cavoli, commanding general of U.S. Army Europe and Africa Command, said that final planning is underway for the exercise scheduled for late Spring or early Summer. It would take place around the Black Sea, waters that have drawn an increased amount of American naval presence through freedom of navigation operations, and emphasize the use of high-end enablers in conflict.

Particular attention will be paid to Romania, which is developing a Multinational Division for deployment, and Bulgaria, now receiving American advanced air and missile defense systems, he said.

The exercise also reflects the changes in his command, bringing Army troops in Africa under his control. He said that the structural change allows him “to think hemispherically” about security, that also coincides with the concerns of Southern European allies from Portugal to the Black Sea. “NATO is not a one-problem alliance,” he said, referring to Russia…

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