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Dutch soldiers prepare to embark to join Norway in the perspective of NATO military maneuvers, October 23, 2018. Remko de Waal / ANP / AFP

Some 50 000 soldiers supported by considerable material means launch on Thursday 25 October in Norway the biggest military maneuvers of NATO since the cold war, a show of force which irritates the neighboring Russia.

Exercise "Trident Juncture", which will run until November 7, is based on collective defense and aims to train the Atlantic Alliance to come to the rescue of one of its members, in accordance with Article 5.

The scenario for this exercise is allied intervention to stop and repel an offensive from northern Norway. Nobody is quoted, but the idea would be good to counter a Russian attack.

Russia worries NATO

Norway and Russia share a common border of about 200 km in the north of the country. Norway's defense plans had hitherto been oriented towards the south, the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, where the Stavanger oil zone and political power in Oslo are located.

But for NATO experts, one must be concerned about the development of Russian military power in the Arctic. It is also along the Norwegian coast that the Russian submarines of the northern fleet, based in the Murmansk region, regularly pass.

" The tanks will remain 1,000 km " from the border, say the Norwegian military. " Russia does not have to worry ." While Moscow denounces the increase of the military presence of NATO in Northern Europe.

Life size test

For NATO, this exercise on land, at sea and in the air, which will also combine "cyber" actions, will be an opportunity to test the ability of the forces of 29 countries to work together.

A full-scale test also for the Alliance's new Rapid Response Force (VHR-JTF), while the mobility of NATO forces remains a challenge. The opportunity finally " to evaluate new tactics " ("Ex-Tac" for Experimental Tactics) underlines a French admiral.

France will send 3,000 soldiers and a helicopter carrier. In the long run, 700 American soldiers should succeed one another by rotation on Norwegian soil.