Observed operations
Arctic Sentry
NATO's enhanced vigilance activity for the Arctic and the High North, launched in February 2026 and led by Joint Force Command Norfolk.
Coverage · NATO Eastern Flank
Context, not targeting. Campaign records describe objectives, participants, phases and outcomes at the level of published analysis; they contain no current positions, force ratios, unit locations or strengths.
Campaigns 7 sustained efforts in NATO Eastern Flank, each grouping the events that belong to it. Status describes where a campaign stands, never who is winning.
Observed operations
Eastern Sentry
NATO's flexible, multi-domain vigilance activity along the entire eastern flank, launched on 12 September 2025 after Russian drones violated Polish airspace, and in 2026 the bridge to NATO's air defence posture.
Observed operations
Baltic Sentry
NATO's standing vigilance activity for critical undersea infrastructure in the Baltic Sea, launched in January 2025 after repeated damage to cables and pipelines.
Observed operations
The NATO Force Model
The readiness architecture agreed at Madrid in 2022 and in force since July 2024: a larger pool of high-readiness forces pre-assigned to specific defence plans, with a new reaction force alongside it.
Observed operations
NATO forward presence on the eastern flank
The programme under which NATO has kept multinational combat formations on the territory of its eastern Allies since 2017, from four battalions to nine formations from the Baltic to the Black Sea.
Observed operations
NATO Air Defence in the Baltics
NATO's standing mission over Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, flown by rotating allied detachments since 2004: Baltic Air Policing until 31 July 2026, widened into an air defence mission from 1 August 2026.
Observed operations
The NATO Response Force
The Alliance's rotational high-readiness force from 2002 until July 2024, deployed to the eastern flank once, and replaced by the NATO Force Model.
Evidence and grading
- Observed operation
- Documented as having occurred or as occurring, with sources. Its lifecycle status says where it stands.
- Confidence
- How well established Vigil considers this assessment to be. It is not a measure of how severe the situation is.