Saber Guardian 2019: 3-24 June

Around 8,000 soldiers from six countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and the United States of America) will take part, on 3-24 June, in the Saber Guardian 2019 (SG19) Exercise - led by the Land Forces of the United States Army Europe (USAREUR) and the Romanian Land Forces Staff - which will take place at various locations in Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary.

SG19 has as its main objective to highlight the cohesion, unity and solidarity of allied and partner countries in order to defend against any aggression, especially through possibility of rapid mobilization and concentration of forces in short time anywhere in Europe, Romanian Ministry of Defense (MApN) states.

Joint training activities within SG19 include defense staff tactical exercises and combat drills, multiple river crossing, vehicle road marches and an air assault, tactical displacement of the 2nd US Cavalry Regiment from Germany to Romania, and a medical exercise.

In order to streamline training activities in an international context, SG19 has been linked to a number of other national and multinational exercises, totaling 13,500 soldiers from 14 allied and partner Countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Germany, Great Britain, Republic of Moldova, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Turkey, Ukraine and USA), out of which 7,600 will represent the Romanian Army.

SG19 and the planned combined exercises on Romania’s territory will mainly take place in the training areas and the Cincu, Babadag, Smârdan, Capu Midia, Boboc, and Borduşani.

Saber Guardian is being held annually since 2013, and so far has been hosted by Bulgaria, Romania and Ukraine on a rotational basis. Beginning with 2017, Saber Guardian has become a biennial exercise. SG19 is included in the action program of joint military drills of US Army Europe to increase interoperability at a joint and multinational level with allied and partner nations.

Source:RRA.Translated by Miruna Matei