CAF members participate in Exercise STEADFAST DUEL 25 across Europe
December 5, 2025 - Defence Stories
Estimated read time – 2:00
By: Capt Wyatt Shorter, CJOC Public Affairs
In late October, over 90 Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) members participated in NATO’s Exercise STEADFAST DUEL 25 (STDU25), conducted in various locations across Europe, supporting exercise control functions through providing a national response cell and division headquarters lower control, as well as augmenting NATO organizations. CAF participation in STDU25 actively demonstrated Canada’s commitment to NATO and was a valuable learning experience, fostering key relationships both with NATO organizations and member nations.
This computer-assisted command and control exercise tested NATO’s Article 5 Collective Defence response to a simulated attack on Alliance territory by a fictional adversary and its non-state proxies. By using simulation rather than physical deployment, STDU25 allowed NATO to rehearse large-scale coordination without moving forces across Europe.
For the first time in a STEADFAST DUEL exercise serial, all three NATO Operational Commands—Brunssum (Netherlands), Naples (Italy), and Norfolk (Virginia)—worked together, creating the most realistic simulation of an Alliance-wide response to date. Unlike previous iterations, STDU25 advanced the scenario deeper into the conflict, beginning 20 days after a full-scale attack on NATO territory had started. This offered CAF participants a nearly unmatched opportunity to participate in a realistic simulation of NATO operations in a prolonged crisis.
As the simulated enemy pushed into Alliance territory, NATO forces reversed the momentum, driving the “red force” back through its superior logistics, more robust infrastructure, and unmatched interoperability. However, the exercise underscored the devastating impact a real conflict would have: civilian population centers, medical facilities, and critical infrastructure faced severe and persistent challenges throughout the scenario.
General Ingo Gerhartz, Commander of Joint Forces Command Brunssum, highlighted before the exercise that this event represented a rare and valuable opportunity for NATO to rehearse its collective defence plans and responses at this scale, ensuring readiness for any future challenges. Across land, sea, air, cyber, and space domains, STDU25 highlighted the importance of Alliance cohesion and resilience against unprovoked aggression, especially as a hypothetical conflict would become entrenched and start to drag on. A key feature was the simulation of mis- and dis-information campaigns, testing NATO’s ability to detect, verify, and counter false narratives through a sophisticated mock information environment, including simulated news outlets and social media.
STDU25 brought together participants from every NATO member nation to demonstrate readiness, resolve, and interoperability at tactical, operational, and strategic levels. As Canada continues to contribute to reinforcing deterrence and defence measures along NATO’s Eastern flank, exercises like STDU25 remain essential to ensuring the CAF remains an integral part of Alliance preparations for any challenge.