Nuclear exercise starting in Italy, here's when, where and why

NATO kicks off the nuclear exercise that will be held starting next week in Italy.
This news should not cause alarm or concern for citizens, as it is a routine exercise.
The nuclear exercise will involve several countries, including our own peninsula which will be the scene of the training of the armed forces of the Atlantic Alliance, where fighter planes capable of carrying nuclear warheads will be used.
Even though it is a consolidated practice, the decision to carry out the nuclear exercise in the Mediterranean certainly does not go unnoticed, especially when fighting continues on the border of Europe, with the Russian-Ukrainian war, and in Palestine with Israel continues to bomb Gaza: 2,329 Palestinians have lost their lives in the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
What is NATO's objective? Let's try to clear up any doubts: here's when and where the exercise will be held and why: below is everything you need to know on the topic.
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The training will begin on Monday 16 October 2023 and will end 10 days later, Thursday 26 October.
The nuclear tests are "hosted" every year by a different component of the Atlantic Alliance and this year Italy, Croatia and the Mediterranean will be the theater of the exercise, as announced by the Secretary General of the Atlantic Organization, Jens Stoltenberg, in a conference press in Brussels.
The operation will begin on Monday 16 September with a US Air Force F-16 taking off from an air base in Northern Italy.
This will be the signal that will start the exercise, in which 13 allied countries and several conventional jets, surveillance and refueling aircraft will participate.
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What happens? Nuclear exercise starting in Italy: here's why Steadfast Noon, as previously explained, is an exercise that takes place every year but the details of which are not known, for obvious reasons.
What is certain is that it will involve numerous warplanes from NATO member countries.
Usually the exercise is managed by the United States, the United Kingdom and France: the countries that have the atomic bomb.
Faced with a similar deployment of the armed forces of the Atlantic Alliance for a single exercise, it is natural to ask what NATO's real objective is.
The main purpose of these annual exercises is to test NATO's nuclear deterrence capacity and it is for this reason that the means that – in a hypothetical nuclear clash and conflict – could intervene on the field will be used, such as fighter planes capable to carry nuclear warheads.
Obviously no live weapons and no explosive devices will be used in the exercise.
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Among the planes that will be used in the training, we find the US B-52 bombers that will take off from the United States, exactly like last year, when the exercise – hosted in Belgium – started on October 17th and ended on the 30th.
Last year's training involved 14 countries and saw over 60 aircraft of various types in the field, including Italian Tornados, and fourth and fifth generation, as well as surveillance and tanker aircraft.
And if the Atlantic Alliance has guaranteed that the (routine) exercise is not connected to current world events, the Russian-Ukrainian war and the war in Palestine, it must be said that the exercise certainly does not go unnoticed, especially after Israel's declaration that it can use its Jericho nuclear missiles to defeat Hamas (a threat that is unlikely to be practicable given the territorial proximity) and after Putin's constant threats to use his nuclear arsenal for war in Ukraine.
In any case, most of the exercise will take place at least 1,000 kilometers from Russia's borders.
It therefore seems that the exercise uses the same nuclear deterrence strategy to discourage any aggression – while the terrorism alarm has already been raised in Europe – that Russia and Israel have resorted to.
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