UK announces largest military deployment to Nato exercises in decades

Britain will send 20,000 armed forces personnel to one of Nato's largest exercises since the Cold War, defence secretary Grant Shapps announced on Monday, expressing concern about growing threats to the Western-led alliance. Personnel from the Royal Air Force, Royal Navy, and Army will join forces with the same from 31 other member countries, as well as Sweden, a Nato applicant, during the military alliance's "Exercise Steadfast Defender". Addressing the joint UK-US operations against Iran-backed Huthi rebels last week, Shapps stated that the actions were intended "as a single action".