NATO’s largest multinational medical exercise, Vigorous Warrior 2026, has concluded in Estonia after bringing together personnel from 38 Allied and partner nations.
The exercise ran from 8 to 20 June and was hosted by Estonia and coordinated by the NATO Centre of Excellence for Military Medicine, NATO reported on Thursday.
It focused on training how forces provide medical support during large-scale combat operations, including working across different countries’ systems and alongside civilian organisations.
“Vigorous Warrior is the pivotal exercise for the NATO medical community,” Brigadier General Dr Jens E. K. Diehm, director of the NATO Centre of Excellence for Military Medicine, said.
Brigadier General Petter Iversen, chair of the Committee of Chiefs of Military Medical Services in NATO — known as COMEDS — attended the exercise and said it brought together military and civilian assets.
Civilian agencies and new technology trials
Estonia’s Surgeon General, Lieutenant Colonel Indrek Olveti, said this was the first time since 2002 that Estonia had conducted an exercise of this scale and type, with the earlier event taking place before the country joined NATO.
Training covered a wide range of military medical tasks, from care at the point of injury and casualty stabilisation through to evacuation, higher-level treatment and continued care across different units and nations, NATO said.
Innovation testing was also included through a partnership with NATO’s Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA), which the alliance said allowed companies to observe and trial emerging technologies in field conditions.
NATO stated that the exercise tested steps intended to improve the protection of patients, evacuation assets and treatment facilities, including using underground installations, evacuating casualties with unmanned systems, and reducing the thermal and electronic footprint of medical facilities.
Civilian participants included representatives from Romania, Sweden and Hungary, as well as Estonia’s Health Board, hospitals, the Rescue Board, the Police and Border Guard Board, and ambulance services.
