At the US military base in Hohenfels, Germany, Polish special forces are undergoing a new exercise based on lessons from the war in Ukraine. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Associated Press.
The exercise scenario involves moving through enemy lines, traversing miles of enemy territory, and launching a drone strike on a key enemy location. The exercise was designed by US Army Green Berets and is being conducted for the first time with a NATO ally like Poland.
"We're using lessons learned from Ukraine," said a Green Beret officer assigned to the training complex. "All of those effects that we're seeing either Russia or Ukraine having to overcome — we're doing our best to replicate."
The Associated Press received rare access to both the training ground and the troops conducting the exercise. The exercise has only been conducted twice before, both times this year, by two different Green Beret teams.
The drill highlights the focus that some parts of the US military have on learning the latest techniques in drone warfare, pioneered by Ukraine during its 4 1/2-year effort to repel Russian forces. It also shows how the US, its NATO allies, and Ukraine are working together to counter the threat of possible further Russian action in coming years.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe went to Moscow this week to warn Russia not to attack NATO countries, The Wall Street Journal reported. Russia has the appetite to conduct sabotage and cyberattacks against NATO countries, but Putin wants to avoid a direct confrontation, according to three Western officials.
During the exercise in Germany, a senior enlisted soldier familiar with the training scenario at Joint Multinational Readiness Center Hohenfels said the plan is to run it several times a year. The officer expects most, if not all, of the 32 NATO nations to express interest in sending their troops to try the exercise.
The scenario, which runs for several days, takes place on a large, 1,100-square-mile (3,000-square-kilometer) plot of land in Bavaria. Polish special forces will be expected to sneak past a US Army airborne infantry unit, whose soldiers will play the enemy. The US airborne infantry unit will parachute into the closed-off training area at the Army's Hohenfels base and set themselves up into a front line.
Assuming the Polish forces can make their way past the US Army, they must then move north — through about 60 miles (100 kilometers) of German countryside — to another training area in the town of Grafenwoehr, where they are expected to destroy a simulated target. In between lie German farms and villages, private and government cameras, as well as the city of Amberg with a population of more than 40,000 people, all of which not only pose as obstacles but also create the potential for them to be spotted.
"We have them take off their military attire, go in as civilians so they can blend in — but blend in also means don't get seen by civilians," the senior enlisted soldier said.