Overview
- Officials confirmed the three‑day exercise started Thursday, with night convoys, helicopter escorts, simulated bangs and smoke, and localized traffic disruptions expected through Saturday.
- The scenario assumes escalating tensions on the Baltic flank as troops arrive at the port and move east by road and rail, with no tanks in city columns and a mass‑casualty simulation at Blohm+Voss using Bundeswehr helicopters.
- About 500 soldiers train alongside police, fire, THW, agencies, and firms such as Airbus and HHLA, coordinated from an operations center in the Reichspräsident‑Ebert‑Kaserne and including drone‑threat training.
- The Hamburg employment agency rehearses procedures under the Arbeitssicherstellungsgesetz, which critics describe as coerced labor, as protests are planned and the ministry says handling of demonstrations will be practiced.
- Political scrutiny intensifies as CDU’s Roderich Kiesewetter warns of shortfalls in transport infrastructure, logistics and personnel, while the Greens’ Sarah Nanni says readiness is largely on paper and calls for a clear Military Police law.