Overview
- The brigade's first brigade-level exercise, Freedom Shield 2026, is taking place this week on the Pabradė range in Lithuania and has moved into its main phase midweek.
- About 2,900 troops from eight NATO countries, roughly 2,300 of them German, and some 800 vehicles are participating to practise combined armoured manoeuvres with modern systems.
- The Bundeswehr has deployed more than 300 drones to train both their use and their defeat, and the exercise deliberately integrates drone defence and electronic warfare into armoured tactics.
- Organisers use the AGDUS laser-simulation network to register hits and force realistic outcomes, and commanders say a key aim is to build a protective jamming and defensive-fire 'shield' over friendly forces while breaking an opponent's shield.
- Germany frames the brigade as a core piece of NATO deterrence near Belarus and Kaliningrad, plans to reach a full strength of 4,800 soldiers and 200 civilian staff by 2027, and the drills expose short-term gaps such as missing air-defence vehicles that remain in procurement.