Britain is sending a task force of 20,000 to take part in the biggest Nato exercise since the Cold War which aims to make the alliance battle-ready at an increasingly dangerous time with conflicts raging in the Middle East and Ukraine.
The UK contingent, from the army, Royal Navy and the RAF will provide almost half of the 41,000 service personnel which will take part in Operation Steadfast Defender which will have a multinational deployment of up to 50 warships, and dozens of aircraft, carrying out 700 air combat missions.
