 Building on last year's success, Defender Europe 21 will build readiness and interoperability between allies and partners and prepare our forces to rapidly respond to crisis and conduct large-scale combat operations if called upon. It will exercise US Army Europe and Africa's ability to serve as a combined joint force land component command and as a security partner in the strategically important Balkans and Black Sea regions, while sustaining our activities in Northern Europe and Africa. Defender Europe 21 will feature the participation of more than 30,000 multinational forces from 26 nations conducting nearly simultaneous operations across more than 30 training areas in 14 countries. Critical to this endeavor will be the strict COVID prevention and mitigation strategy implemented by US and participating nations. Exercises like Defender Europe 21 demonstrates that the US commitment to NATO is ironclad and that NATO allies and partners stand stronger together.