The United States will not invite Russian observers to visit NATO-initiated Defender-Europe 20 military drills in Europe as it is not hosting the exercises, Maj. Gen. Andrew Rohling, the deputy commanding general of the US Army Europe, said on Wednesday.

The drills are set to take place across 10 countries and envision the biggest deployment of US military forces to Europe in 25 years. The exercises expect to involve 37,000 allied troops from 18 nations, including 20,000 US servicemen.

“And so to maintain maximum transparency, host nations can invite representatives from OSCE [Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe] to participate and observe the exercise and to confirm their defensive nature. The United States Army will not invite Russian observers onto any other host nations’ soil. That is the the role of each individual country that is participating to invite any Russian observers,” Rohling told reporters via a conference call.

Below is a full rush transcript of the press conference by  Major General Andrew “Andy” , Rohling Deputy Commanding General, U.S. Army Europe.

Major General Rohling:  I am Major General Andrew Rohling.  I am the Deputy Commander of the United States Army Europe.  I want to thank you for taking the time this morning to talk about DEFENDER-Europe 20.

The last time that we, the United States Army Europe, spoke to you, you heard from Brigadier General Sean Bernabe, our G3 operations officer, on what DEFENDER 20 – DEFENDER-Europe 20 is, and so today I’d like to kind of talk a little bit more about what we’ve done so far. 

As you know, DEFENDER-Europe 20 is the largest deployment of U.S.-based forces to Europe in an exercise for more than 25 years.  The purpose of DEFENDER-Europe is to exercise the U.S. military’s ability to deploy a large force of personnel and equipment from the Continental United States here to Europe – and, alongside our NATO partners and allies, quickly respond to a crisis. 

As the name suggests, DEFENDER and its linked exercises are defensive in nature.  They are not directed towards any one country or specific threat.  This is about building our collective capabilities as a nation, and as part of the NATO Alliance, to respond to a crisis.  

DEFENDER-Europe 20 will send a clear and unmistakable signal that the United States is committed to NATO and the defense of the European homeland.

It is not just a U.S. exercise.  DEFENDER-Europe 20 relies on the support of the entire Alliance and we will build a whole-of-Europe readiness and interoperability.

As U.S. soldiers began arriving at the airports and ports across Europe in the middle of February, their equipment had entered via multiple seaports in Belgium and Germany.  These sites, along with other seaports, serve as the logistical hubs for DEFENDER-Europe 20.

These personnel and their equipment have begun to move through multiple countries to arrive at training areas across Germany, Poland, and the Baltics, where they will join other NATO allies and partner militaries to conduct various linked training exercises. 

For some details, currently 15 of 27 air missions have brought approximately 3,500 of about 17,000 U.S. soldiers to Europe.  Four of 10 vessels have arrived into theater with three more currently in transit between the Continental United States and here.  These vessels have brought approximately 2,700 of about 18,000 pieces of equipment here to theater.  We’ve currently – we are currently executing 51 convoy movements through Germany and Poland, and completed one of four Army Prepositioned Stock draws of about 1,400 pieces of equipment.

Though our focus has been on DEFENDER, we are closely monitoring, of course, the current situation with the COVID-19 virus and its potential effect on all of us.  At this time, there are no U.S. soldiers, families or members or civilian employees affected by the virus, and it has not impacted the execution DEFENDER 20 at this point, although we are closely monitoring the situation and working with our host nation partners to make sure our policies with those of our host nations and work to prevent any spread of the virus.

Question:  You mentioned so far no sign of it affecting DEFENDER.  Could you talk about – I mean, it’s a fluid situation and there are signs that it’s expanding all over the place.  Are you guys involved in contingency planning, looking at options to alter the exercise should it expand more deeply into places like Germany and Poland? 

Major General Rohling:  Sure.  So just to make sure, the DEFENDER 20 plan in itself already had a robust medical support for all its exercise participants.  But in light of, as you say, the – where it’s going today, the United States Army, USAREUR, staff, we are in fact war-gaming public health and medical support plans to identify any potential changes or anything else we need to address, and most importantly, we’re tied very tightly with each of the host nations and what they’re conducting and their requirements across Europe.

Question: What U.S. armor units will participate in the exercise with Trophy active protection systems and what other new kit will be used for the first time?

Major General Rohling:  Sure.  So the Trophy equipment is coming out of the – the equipment is coming out of the Army Prepositioned Stocks in Germany, and it has already moved to Bergen-Hohne.  The unit that will exercise that is the 116th, the Army National Guard from Idaho, and they will be conducting the installation and initial training exercises on that.

As far as other equipment that’s being trained, we’ve got a number of small pieces of equipment.  The biggest is really going to be our – is conceptual training with new equipment that’ll happen during the Joint Warfighting Assessment in late April at Grafenwoehr, where we will train the concepts for new equipment and new doctrine that the Army is trying to do as part of its modernization efforts.

Question:  Have you invited Russian observers to the drills, and if so, did they accept the invitation?

Major General Rohling:  DEFENDER 20, Europe 20, was planned and executed in full compliance with all of our applicable conventional arms control agreements, so the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty, the Vienna Document – the Vienna Document on confidence and security-building measures, and the Open Skies Treaty.  We have provided the appropriate Vienna Document notifications in November of 2018 and again in November of 2019 to all 57 participating states within the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, to include the Russian Federation.  And so to maintain maximum transparency, host nations can invite representatives from OSCE to participate and observe the exercise and to confirm their defensive nature.  The United States Army will not invite Russian observers onto any other host nation’s soil.  That is the role of each individual country that’s participating to invite any Russian observers, but we have been quite open and transparent in that.

Question:  I’m just looking at illustrations of the troop movements, and it doesn’t appear that any of the paths include Luxembourg.  Is there any involvement in Luxembourg territory or personnel in this?

Major General Rohling:  I’m just reviewing my map one more time to make sure that I can – I agree with that.  I think you are correct.  I do not see us driving through Luxembourg at this time, but Luxembourg has been a good partner in all the things that we’ve been doing in planning and other assorted maneuvers as we’ve transited in the past as part of Atlantic Resolve and other assorted activities.  But to my knowledge, we are not, in fact, using Luxembourg as a transit route.

Question:  Can you talk in more detail about the ‘joint forcible entry phase?’  Should we understand this as a power projection or reinforcement operation in an A2/AD-shaped environment or as a sort of REFORGER in an A2/AD environment?

Major General Rohling:  Sure.  Thanks for that question.  So the joint forcible entry portion of this is what is going to be known as Swift Response in the past; it’ll be a consolidation of airborne forces in Ramstein, Germany, and then we will conduct an airborne operation in Latvia, Lithuania, and into Georgia.  So it’s multinational in terms of the paratroopers, multinational in terms of the aircraft being used, command-and-controlled by a United States airborne division, and it’ll exercise the command and control over distance of multiple drop zones and soldiers.  And then, of course, the current A2/AD environment and capabilities has definitely been taken into consideration as we planned this exercise.

Question:  I would like to ask concerning the preparation and conduction of the exercise?

Major General Rohling:  we, in fact, have seen disinformation.  We were expecting some, exactly.  To make sure that we’re in tune to that, we have established a joint information center here at our headquarters that monitors open-source press and other – and open-source webs and other assorted media, and we’ve been attempting every time we catch wind of it to quickly assimilate it and put out the truth as opposed to misinformation that – and where it’s coming from.

Question: Will there be any Lithuanian seaports used in DEFENDER 2020?

Major General Rohling:  Thank you for the question, Andrius.  No, there will not be a Lithuanian seaport during this exercise.

Question:  This exercise itself is impressive, but it reminds us, unfortunately, of the times of the Cold War and how the nature of warfare has crucially changed since then.  As we see in Ukraine, an enemy that does not use open combat and prefers to use hybrid techniques, which are impossible to deal with via traditional military means, can be a challenge.  What are you going to do, General, if there are ‘little green men’ who engage in some kind of operation within the European theater?

Major General Rohling:  So this exercise is not exactly designed for that threat in mind.  This exercise is designed around the strategic readiness of the United States and its allies to move from the United States, here to Europe, to counter more of a conventional crisis.  So, admittedly, that’s not the scenario that we’re attempting to train in the larger picture of DEFENDER-Europe 20.  

However, inside of DEFENDER-Europe 20 is our Joint Warfighting Assessment that we’ll be conducting in our command post exercise at Grafenwoehr, Germany, where we are hoping to train the larger units at the corps and division level in warfare as we see it in the year 2028.  So those things that you’re talking about and have experienced in the Ukraine will be part of that scenario at the command post exercise, but not as we train in the large picture of ground maneuver here in DEFENDER-Europe 20.

Question:  I have two questions.  The first is on coronavirus.  What if any soldier would be affected by this disease ? What kind of measures is Army Europe going to take?  can you give me an approximate number of the soldiers which will be in Poland during DEFENDER-Europe 20?  Thank you very much.

Major General Rohling:  To your first question is, what are the measures that we will take with the coronavirus?  So we are – so currently, as I stated in my opening statement, no significant operational impacts right now in DEFENDER-Europe 20 due to the corona 19 situation.  The reception, staging, onward movement, and integration – RSOI – for this exercise is already underway and all of the planned seaports and airports remain operational and the borders remaining open.  Within the USAREUR area, only Georgia and Israel have enacted travel restrictions that ban arrivals from Italy, and these restrictions right now have no impact on DEFENDER-Europe 20.  

While you’re right, positive cases are increasing across Europe, we’re monitoring this closely and in coordination with our allies and partners, the DEFENDER-Europe 20 plan already provides a robust medical support for exercise participations.  But in light of this situation, we are working and war-gaming public health and medical support plans to identify any shortfall we might have and we’re addressing those shortfalls and/or requirements with each individual host nation and in coordination with their larger defense plans and their issues so that we’re tied in tight.  So in your case, we’re tied in with what Poland is going to do and making sure that we’re part of that plan, not a separate entity, so for the safety of our soldiers and for the safety of Polish citizens.

As to the total number of soldiers in Poland itself, the total number of soldiers from the United States is going to be somewhere in the realm of 19- to 20,000.  To be honest with you, Rafal, how many of those specifically are in Poland, if I was going to give you a guesstimation, or an estimation, I think we’re sitting in the realm of right around about 7- to 10,000 of those will be in Poland itself.

Question:  how do you address the challenge of the particular capabilities of potential adversaries like the recently developed or tested cruise and ballistic missiles?  Do you believe in the hyper hype – the hype of the hypersonic weapons, especially those missiles can be fired from small ships and mobile surface platforms?  So how do you address those challenges in the exercise?

Major General Rohling:  Those are exactly the sort of capabilities and things we’re going to exercise in the Joint War fighting Assessment that happens in the command post exercise in – at Grafenwoehr, Germany, in the end of April.  So in terms of the larger manoeuvring that we’re going to do in DEFENDER as far as the tanks manoeuvring across Europe or into the training areas in Germany and in Lithuania, that is not part of that exercise but it is absolutely a part of the command post exercise called Joint Warfighting Assessment.

Major General Rohling:  First, thank you, everyone, for your interest in DEFENDER-Europe 20.  We continue to believe that this is a very important exercise not only for the United States but for all of our European partners and allies.  We’re very appreciative of each nation and what they’ve contributed, and we are looking forward to a great event, a great learning event that will help strengthen the security of all our nations.

On Feb. 19, 2020, four RoNAF F-35A aircraft arrived in Iceland, where they have deployed to support NATO’s Airborne Surveillance and Interception Capabilities to meet Iceland’s Peacetime Preparedness Needs (ASIC IPPN) mission. The purpose of the NATO mission, initiated in 2008, after the withdrawal of US forces from the island, is to provide air surveillance and interception coverage over Iceland, in order to maintain the integrity of the NATO airspace.

The RNoAF F-35s will carry out a 3-week deployment with some 130 military and civilian personnel; Norwegian Control and Reporting Centre (CRC) personnel will be working alongside their Icelandic Coast Guard colleagues in the CRC at Keflavik Air Base.

RNoAF is the second F-35 operator to deploy the 5th generation aircraft in support of NATO’s Icelandic Air Policing: the first one was the Italian Air Force, that deployed its Lightning II jets to Keflavik in October 2019.

Norwegian F-35As achieved the IOC (Initial Operational Capability) on November 6, 2019, becoming the third European country to reach IOC with the F-35 after Italy and the UK. The deployment to Iceland is a milestone towards full operational capability in 2025. The RNoAF plans to replace its F-16s, that are currently performing Quick Reaction Alert missions, by 2022, when there will be enough F-35s (out of 52 ordered), pilots and maintainers available to deploy to Evenes Air Station (Northern Norway).

Norwegian F-35s are unique compared to other nations’ F-35s as they are the only ones to use a drag chute during landing, housed in a special fairing on the upper rear fuselage between the vertical tails. It can be used to rapidly decelerate Norwegian F-35s after landing on icy runways under windy conditions.

In Octore 2019 Defense News reported that the drag chute was failing more than expected and that the Royal Norwegian Air Force was working with the Pentagon to fix the issue.

The United States has called on Russia to withdraw from the sovereign territory of Ukraine, says Kay Bailey Hutchison, U.S. Permanent Representative to NATO. 

“We are calling on Russia to withdraw from the sovereign territory of Ukraine and to let the Ukrainian people come together and move forward as they have shown they want to do in freedom and democracy with the rule of law and human rights,” the official told a video conference briefing ahead of a NATO defense ministerial in Brussels on Tuesday, February 11.

Also, Kay Bailey Hutchison reiterated U.S. “commitment to Ukraine to be helpful”. She noted that NATO defense ministers in Brussels this week will meet their Ukrainian counterpart Andriy Zagorodnyuk to reinforce the commitment that NATO has to the sovereign boundaries of Ukraine.

Below is a full rush transcript of the press conference by  Ambassador Kay Bailey Hutchison U.S. Permanent Representative to NATO

Ambassador Hutchison:  I’m very pleased to be welcoming Secretary of Defense Esper tomorrow, where we will meet with the other 28 allies, defense ministers, and talk about the priorities that we have, especially from the Leaders Meeting in December in London.  And number one, of course, on that list this time is the request from President Trump to do more in Iraq.  He’s asking NATO to step in so that we can do more training and more capability building of the Iraqi forces, and help the Iraqis to be able to hopefully, in the near future, be able to defend their own country and create that security environment.

We’re also going to be talking about Russia and the deterrence that we are committed to with Russia because, of course, we have a European defense initiative as well as an enhanced forward presence that assures that we have the capability to keep any encroachment from Russia onto the borders of our NATO allies.

We will be talking about NATO-EU cooperation because we’re going to hope to be able to work with the EU on military mobility, and we hope to be able to bring in more of the efforts that EU can do that will augment our NATO defense and security policies.  

And then we will be having meetings with our allies and partners on the mission in Afghanistan.  It is very important.  We have 40 partners as well as our 28 allies in Afghanistan, where we are trying to come together with the Government of Afghanistan to create a peaceful environment, and, of course, that is something that Ambassador Khalilzad has been working on for many months and we will be informing our partners and allies of that, the – where we are, the status of that.

So those are the things we will be talking about.  Burden sharing is always an issue, and I will say that President Trump has asked our allies to do more not only in the missions as we have talked about in Iraq, but also more in defense investment, and our allies are stepping up and that is a good message that we can give that NATO is working, we are adapting, and we are creating a security environment for all of our citizens.

Question:  Today the parliament is ratifying the protocol for the membership of North Macedonia to NATO.  When do you expect the North Macedonian flag to be flying over NATO Headquarters?

Ambassador Hutchison:  I think by summer we will have that North Macedonian flag that will be right out front with all of the other 29 flags that now fly at our NATO Headquarters.  We have almost every one of our allies has acceded to the access of North Macedonia.  One has a formation of government, so it’s only a process issue.  So I think that very shortly we will be able to welcome our allies in North Macedonia, and they’ve done a great job of reform and seeking this membership and being patient, and then creating the leadership on the name that was essential to begin this accession process.  So we’ll be very happy in the spring to welcome them to our table.

Question: Due to their disagreement over language rights of the Hungarian minority in Ukraine, Hungary has blocked Ukrainian participation at NATO ministerial since 2017.  What is the U.S. position on this, and do you support the idea of NATO as a platform for debating human rights?

Ambassador Hutchison:  We do support having Ukraine as an enhanced partner that we believe that it is and having the capability to have ministerial-level meetings with the defense minister of Ukraine.  We hope very much that Hungary will work with us to allow that to happen.  We’ve always said that bilateral issues should not hold back the key efforts that NATO is making, and we want to make sure that human rights are respected by all of our NATO partners as well as members, but it is something that is a bilateral disagreement here, and we hope very much that Hungary will set aside this issue and we will work with Hungary to assure that Ukraine is respecting minority rights, but we also want NATO to be able to have high-level meetings with Ukraine who are very much in need of our help right now.

Question:  Any update on the President’s proposal to have NATO take a more robust role in the Middle East?  Have there been any more details sketched out?  And can you give us any details on ongoing discussions with NATO allies regarding this proposal?

Ambassador Hutchison:  Yes, we have been working with the secretary general and all of our allies are working to see what we can do more in Iraq to help stabilize that country and help train the Iraqi forces so that they have the capability to do their own defense.  This is going very well.  I think that the secretary general has really led in this effort, and I think our NATO allies are very willing to step forward, do more in counterterrorism, and now we’re looking at what the commanders on the ground say could take some of the burden off of the Coalition to Defeat ISIS, which is there trying to assure that ISIS does not come back in Iraq – take some of the load off of that operation, move it over into NATO forces, and I think NATO has a great reputation for being able to give capabilities to foreign soldiers and military so that they can help themselves.  We’ve done that in Afghanistan; we’d like to do it in Iraq.

Question:  An investigation has found that the inner circle of Viktor Orban and a Hungarian-Russian nuclear company paid €4 million to fund a media operation against North Macedonia’s entry to NATO.  How can attacks against democracies and NATO memberships be prevented?

Ambassador Hutchison:  Well, that would be a hybrid or a cyberattack, and we are doing so much in NATO to try to prevent those.  And also, I have to say, unfortunately, sometimes we can’t prevent but we can go quickly out into the media to repel something that is coming in that is malign, that is not factual, that is an attack on the human rights or the government of a country.  We know that some of our outside adversaries have done that in all of our countries.  I haven’t heard of this specific incident at all, but we do try to put as many defenses up as possible against malign activity, hybrid or cyber.  

Question:  A Pew Research” – or, “The Pew Research institute has published the results of a survey this week that showed declining support for NATO in key countries such as France and Germany.  What steps is the U.S. taking to ensure continued popularity of NATO in Europe?

Ambassador Hutchison:  That’s a good question, and we have, of course, seen the results of that poll.  And I think that some of our leaders have criticized NATO in different ways, and now I would say that the alliance is going forward, addressing those concerns, especially I think the European allies have stepped up their strengthening of their defenses, which President Trump asked them to do.  And so I think we’re going in the right direction.  I think allies are serious about making sure that NATO is strong, united, and resilient.  

So while I see that the polls are somewhat down, certainly in America we have bipartisan support in Congress and we need to always work on our message so people know what we’re doing.  We also need to message to our people that the world is not a safe place, that we can’t take security for granted, and I think sometimes it is the lack of awareness of the threats that we face that would make perhaps the public not appreciate the importance of NATO.  But we are 29 allies, we speak with one voice for democracy, for rule of law, for human rights respect, and this is something that we must stand for together and face our adversaries who do not have democracies, do not have freedom, do not have respect for human rights.  And we’re going to stand allied against those, and maybe we need to message a little more, but we will do that.  And especially as we show success in deterring and defending against these adversaries, people, I hope, will appreciate that 29 democracies speaking for our way of life is our most important unifying message.

Question:  What kinds of activity does Washington have in mind for its NATO partners, and where exactly – in Syria, in Iraq?

Ambassador Hutchison:  Well, I think what we’re trying to do is realize that there is terrorism in many parts of the Middle East now.  Somewhat Iran, with its militias and its terrorist support, has put terrorist groups into other parts of the Middle East, certainly Iraq and Afghanistan, but others as well.  So we want to be prepared with more NATO forces to train the people in these countries to be able to defend against terrorists who would tear their country apart.

Question:  What specific cybersecurity input has tiny Luxembourg contributed to NATO’s joint defense in the past two years?  And are – is digital security and cyber defense Luxembourg’s primary niche in the alliance going forward?

Ambassador Hutchison:  It’s a very important niche for Luxembourg, and since Luxembourg has a relatively small armed forces, they do contribute in this technology area.  And this is so important because if you see throughout our alliance, every one of our countries has had cyber and hybrid attacks from Russia, some from China, and we need to continue to build our defenses and build our knowledge of how these malign influences are coming into our countries.  And sometimes we find that a Russian bot will end up talking on both sides of a controversial issue within a country, so they are fomenting more disintegration of trust in our countries’ governments, and now that we’re understanding better some of those methods and technologies, which Luxembourg is contributing to our knowledge base to do, then we will be able to repel better and hopefully, at some point in the future, we’ll be able to knock things out that would be misinformation before it gets widespread.

Question:  Over the last week Turkey has lost more than a dozen soldiers in Idlib to attacks by Syrian regime forces.  Does the U.S. support Turkey’s present force posture in Idlib, and would it support a more aggressive posture?  And what can the U.S. or NATO do to deter Russian actions in Idlib ?

Ambassador Hutchison:  Well, certainly the Russian support of the Syrian dictator Assad is very troublesome in that they would attack and kill Turkish people in the military is unthinkable.  And they’re doing it, and we have come out strongly against that Syrian-backed-by-Russian activity.  Turkey is our ally, our partner in trying to curb terrorism.  We don’t agree with everything that Turkey has done in Syria, but we do think that these attacks by Russia, or Syria backed by Russia, are out of line and we hope that, of course, we can get back to a more peaceful situation with a safe zone for the Syrian people who are in the middle of all this.  And so many civilians – thousands of civilians in Syria have been murdered and even chemical weapons being used by Assad against his own people.  We’re standing against that.  We very much are going to back Turkey in this situation and ask Russia to back off supporting Assad so that we can go to a peace agreement for Syria so that the people can have some kind of a governance that will take care of them rather than attack them, as Assad is doing.

Question: Is there any update on the ‘forward-looking reflection process’ under the secretary general that allies agreed to at London in the December meeting in the wake of President Macron saying that NATO is experiencing brain death?

Ambassador Hutchison:  Yes, there is a lot of activity.  Our alliance is talking about how we would like to give a mandate to a small group of people who have – representing many of our countries, but people who have experience with NATO and understand our strength and our unity and our transatlantic bond.  And what we want is for them to look at NATO today and if there are suggestions on how we could improve or strengthen our political dialogue, the contributions that NATO can make, that we will do that.  And we are very much in a process now of putting forth that mandate.  We’re talking about it with all of our allies.  We will have input from all of our countries to see what we can do to assure that we are adapting for the future, that we do have a political structure that will allow us to make decisions in a relevant timeframe, and to be able to address any kind of attack on any one of our countries.

Ambassador Hutchison:  Well, let me just say thank you for all of you who have decided to come in and ask questions and have an interest in our defense ministerial that will happen this week.  We are continuing to make progress on how we can create that security umbrella, whether it’s hybrid and cyberattacks, whether it’s the space domain, which we are now expanding into – both NATO and the United States – and as well, the actual conventional warfare, the arms race that we see happening that we don’t want proliferation to occur.  We are seeing all of these things and NATO is clearly trying to anticipate anything that will devalue our safety for our citizens and move forward to deter against any adversary, whether it be a big one or a small one or a hybrid or a cyber one.  We want to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to stay ahead of the curve and protect our citizens.