The international Defender22 exercise began on 1 May at numerous European training grounds, including Drawsko Pomorskie. 10th Armored Cavalry Brigade in Świętoszów: – It is an allied, recurring exercise organized by the US military. Its main objective is to build readiness and interoperability among allies within NATO.
– We conducted a series of both tactical and live-fire exercises, during the day and at night. Our activities also included moving part of the force from the Świętoszów garrison to the Drawsko training ground via the so-called Hannibal route, a distance of approximately 350 km, including the crossing of a wide water obstacle on the Oder River – summarized the commander of 10BKPanc, Colonel Grzegorz Barabieda.
The final episode and culmination of the exercise, which lasted almost a month, was a joint live-fire exercise. The scenario assumed that reconnaissance subunits would first reconnoiter the foreground. Helicopters and aircraft were then called in to destroy the detected targets. Subsequently, American Abrams tanks, as well as Polish and Danish Leopards—including Danish vehicles in the latest 2A7 version—and Bradley and BWP-1 infantry fighting vehicles engaged further detected targets.
Lieutenant Agata Zawal, press officer of the 10th Armored Cavalry Brigade in Świętoszów: – Despite different organizational structures and types of weaponry, the soldiers once again demonstrated how well cooperation works on the battlefield. The alignment of procedures in the individual armies and the absence of language barriers confirmed multifaceted cooperation and the effective interoperability of Defender.