With four Corps Headquarters, over 4000 warfighters across 9 countries, including nearly 1000 military and civilian experts from 25 nations at the NATO Joint Force Training Centre, and NATO deterrence and defense as primary objectives – NATO Exercise LOYAL LEDA 2026 concluded, demonstrating the Alliance’s readiness, unity and strength. The exercise took place from 3 to 12 March.
“LOYAL LEDA 2026 has strengthened NATO’s readiness, our interoperability, and our confidence in one another,” said Major General Bogdan Rycerski, JFTC Commander and Officer Directing the Exercise, summarizing the exercise. “It has once again proven that multinational cooperation is not just possible. It is powerful. It has the power to deter our adversaries, and if necessary to defend Alliance territory and people.”
LOYAL LEDA 2026 was another in a series of NATO Allied Land Command-sponsored land-centric command post computer-assisted exercises. This year’s exercise involved four corps headquarters. The primary focus was combat readiness of the Multinational Corps Northeast (Szczecin, Poland) and NATO Rapid Deployable Corps Spain (Betera, Valencia, Spain) – both Corps concluded the exercise with successful Combat Readiness Evaluation (CREVAL). The 1 German-Netherlands Corps (Münster, Germany) and the 2 Polish Corps (Kraków, Poland) trained to conduct operations beyond the scope of major joint operations.
With NATO Joint Force Training Centre in the Officer Directing the Exercise role, and Lieutenant General (ret.) Leonardo di Marco, as the exercise control Senior Adviser, LOYAL LEDA 2026 has been meticulously planned and prepared over the past 18 months. The exercise focused on an Article 5 scenario based on an actual NATO defence plans, and was conducted in a complex, multi-domain, high-intensity training environment.
The participants faced demanding injects delivered by various response cells. Opposing force activities, planned in all domains – land, air, maritime, space and cyber, and the dynamic play, allowed the training audiences to validate procedures, skills and reactions. They also helped eliminate potential shortfalls, and thus to confirm the Corps’ operational readiness.
“Thanks to this extremely demanding experience, we are stronger, better, and more united within the Alliance than ever before,” said Lieutenant General Adam Joks, Commander of the 2 Polish Corps.
Lieutenant General Jez Bennett, the Deputy Commander of the Allied Land Command, who oversaw the progress of the exercise at JFTC, stated: “Our aim at LOYAL LEDA 2026 is to ensure that NATO Warfighting Corps are ready, at all times, to deter, and if necessary to defend Alliance territory. JFTC has designed an excellent training environment that is pivotal to achieving this aim. With its complexity, intensity, multi-dimensional context, and an audacious approach to driving innovation, LOYAL LEDA 2026 has been a superb tool for strengthening the readiness of the Alliance.”
As NATO prioritizes land force transformation in 2026, LOYAL LEDA represented a pivotal opportunity for corps headquarters to demonstrate warfighting readiness and the capability to lead NATO’s land forces at the tactical level while adapting and integrating new capabilities and technologies.
“LOYAL LEDA 2026 directly contributes to NATO’s readiness and our collective ability to operate together. This is not only the biggest exercise in the LOLE series so far, it is also the most complex and realistic, with new elements being introduced, including the newest command and control system and advanced simulations,” underlined Brigadier General Zoltan Barany, the JFTC Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff.
Exercise LOYAL LEDA 2026 demonstrated NATO’s commitment to excellence in training and readiness. It showcased the Alliance’s ability to effectively respond to contemporary security challenges. Through exercises like LOYAL LEDA 2026, NATO Joint Force Training Centre remains on the cutting edge of enhancing NATO’s ability to deter and defend.
