Together, we care about the security of the entire free world
01.07.2020
- First of all, I would like to thank the President that today he took part in the summary of the Defender Europe 20 Plus exercise. An exercise that was a challenge and which proved the great capabilities and skills of the Polish and US soldiers. It was a challenge when it came to deployment of troops from the US to Europe and then to Poland. It was a logistical challenge, which turned out to be an excellently passed exam - said Mariusz Błaszczak, Minister of National Defence during a meeting with Polish and US soldiers.
July 1 this year at the Land Forces Training Center - Drawsko, President of the Polish Armed Forces, Andrzej Duda, met with Polish and US soldiers who took part in the Defender-Europe 20 Plus exercise. The president was accompanied by Mariusz Błaszczak, the minister of national defence.
On Wednesday, July 1, 2020, President Andrzej Duda and the Minister of National Defence met at the training area in Drawsko Pomorskie with Polish and US soldiers participating in the Defender Europe 20+ exercise.
- I had the opportunity to participate in this exercise in observing some actions of Polish and US troops. I was impressed with the professionalism and knowledge of the military craft of Polish and US soldiers. Thank you for your involvement in the exercises. Thanks to this we can feel safe. - said the head of the Ministry of National Defence.
Minister Blaszczak reminded that the exercise Defender Europe 20 would not be possible without increasing the presence of US troops in Poland, which is the result of the policy of President Andrzej Duda. - This is the success of President Andrzej Duda and it is our Polish success because it is a basic condition for our security, Poland's security, the security of the countries of the eastern flank of the North Atlantic Alliance, but also the security of the entire free world - said the Minister.
- I can officially announce today the news from NATO headquarters that GRPs /gradual response plans/ for Poland and the Baltic States, strengthening our security and defence system, have been approved by allies. I am very happy about this, because it is the final military, one can say: technical approval of political decisions that were taken during the last NATO summit in London in December 2019 - said President Andrzej Duda.
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DEFENDER-Europe 20 Plus is a modification of the DEFENDER-Europe 20 exercise initially planned to be carried out - the largest division size deployment in full combat readiness from the United States to Europe in 25 years. It was planned to transfer 20,000 US soldiers. The main goal of DEFENDER-Europe 20 before and after modification was to increase preparedness for crisis situations by checking not only the ability of the US army to quickly deploy large number of US soldiers and equipment, but also the readiness of host countries to accept them.
Nearly 6,000 Polish and US soldiers and about 2,000 equipment units: tanks, combat vehicles, artillery, missile sets and aviation participated in the exercise.