British Army soldiers look at equipment and software on display while deployed to Denmark as part of the Joint Expeditionary Force on Exercise ‘Joint Protector' in November 2022. (MoD/Crown Copyright)
The UK is adopting a more vigorous “NATO-first” policy, which is being reflected in its approach to joint training. Speaking at the 2025 Omega Joint Military Training & Simulation Conference held in Bristol in March, Brigadier Matt Baker, deputy director of UK Strategic Command (StratCom) and head of Warfare Development at the UK Integrated Warfare Centre (IWC), explained that “NATO first” is now explicit government policy.
He said that there is an emphasis at Headquarters (HQ) StratCom and the UK's Permanent Joint HQ, which are co-located at Northwood, on accelerating their NATO expertise, with the near-term target of Exercise ‘Steadfast Defender' in 2027.
The 2027 iteration of ‘Steadfast Defender' will be the first in a triennial series that is even larger in scale than usual. It will be an area of operational responsibility (AOR) – wide live-exercise series, extending across both NATO's northwest and central areas of operations.
Brig Baker said there was a growing emphasis on the role of the UK's Standing Joint Force HQ as the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) operational HQ, particularly for its role in crisis. The JEF consists of forces from the UK, the Nordic countries, the Baltic states, and the Netherlands. He said that the crisis role was very much the theme of Exercise ‘Joint Protector 24' in Latvia and will be for Exercise ‘Joint Venture 25' in October/November.
He noted that there was a particular challenge in how to cohere and amplify deterrence activity with a dispersed exercise “lay down” focused more on command-and-control and situational awareness, resilient communications, and key leader engagement.
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