October 20, 2025 – 10:43 amReading time: 3 minutes
NATO troops begin exercise “Dacian Fall 2025” in Romania and Bulgaria. The southeastern flank of the alliance on the border with Russia is now coming into focus.
On the NATO homepage, the marching orders sound very cautious. “The main goal of the exercise ‘Dacian Fall’ is to demonstrate the complete transition of the NATO battle groups in Romania and Bulgaria to the brigade level,” said the NATO Supreme Command for Europe (Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe – SHAPE for short) in Mons, Belgium.
From Monday to November 13th, around 5,000 soldiers from ten NATO countries will be training to move combat units to Bulgaria and Romania on the alliance’s southeastern flank. The two countries in the southeast of the alliance have enormous strategic importance: For example, a large part of the aid for the country is handled via the Romanian Black Sea port of Constanta.
NATO is moving up to 5,000 members of the alliance’s armed forces to Romania and Bulgaria as part of the exercise “Dacian Fall 2025” – DAFA25 for short. Associations from the ten NATO states Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Italy, Luxembourg, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Spain are taking part in the maneuver. France provides the largest proportion of troops with around 2,400 soldiers. At the same time, Italy leads an association in Bulgaria. According to the Romanian Ministry of Defense, the aim of the exercise is to “increase the NATO combat groups in Romania and Bulgaria to brigade level”, i.e. to almost 5,000 soldiers.
Romania and Bulgaria have been members of NATO since the alliance’s eastward expansion in 2004. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the two states have had a new strategic importance. At the Madrid summit in 2022, NATO switched its military concept from deterrence to national defense. The Science and Politics Foundation (SWP) in Berlin noted: “With the resolutions of the Madrid Summit in 2022, these elements form the basis for the newly established Battle Groups of the Alliance in Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary. Under the NATO flag, these multinational troop contingents are intended to fulfill the Alliance’s core mission – deterrence and defense. strengthen.”
