Oleksii Yizhak, an analyst at the National Institute for Strategic Studies and co-founder of the Defense Information Consortium, told Espreso TV.Fourteen NATO countries are participating in the exercises, involving about 70 aircraft and around 2,000 military personnel. This is slightly, but not drastically, more than in previous years.The exercise zone is northwestern Europe and the airspace over the North Sea. According to the expert, for the past two years, the Steadfast Noon exercises have been focused specifically on Northern Europe, where the re-equipment of nuclear forces is proceeding more quickly and Russian threats are more intense."This year, as in previous ones, NATO aircraft are practicing their tasks in the air, designated for both nuclear missions themselves and for non-nuclear roles that support the execution of nuclear operations. One is impossible without the other, and together they are part of NATO's integrated nuclear operations, in which nuclear and non-nuclear countries perform their designated roles," the expert explains.Among the new elements in 2025, Oleksii Yizhak notes the consideration of so-called "emerging & disruptive technologies" (EDTs), particularly drones.NATO defines EDTs as innovative technologies that: change the way military operations are conducted, the structure of armed forces, and defense strategies; can have dual use—for both civilian and military applications; and include technological areas such as artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, quantum technologies, biotechnologies, hypersonic systems, advanced materials, communication networks (5G and beyond), and all other technologies that can significantly alter the balance of power. Potential adversaries are developing technologies very rapidly, and EDTs allow NATO to maintain a "technological edge" and adapt to new threats."To put it simply, EDTs help to realistically simulate various scenarios of nuclear and other escalation by an adversary and to test readiness," the expert notes.According to him, whatever the Russian Federation does, it makes NATO stronger."At least if we start from the minimum level of readiness to which the allied potential was reduced at the time of the start of the Russian Federation's aggression against Ukraine in 2014. In particular, the nuclear component is also becoming stronger. In other words, the Russian Federation seems to have done everything to make Eastern Europe begin rearming; for Finland and Sweden to join NATO; for Germany to stop talks about withdrawing American nuclear weapons and start its own rearmament; and finally, for the Alliance's theoretical work on readiness to counter the latest destructive technologies to become a practical necessity," he believes.And among the main outcomes of Steadfast Noon 2025 to date, Yizhak highlights the practice of the new "nuclear pair" F-35/B61-12 in Northern Europe, the testing of ground infrastructure with the involvement of forces from new allies—Finland and Sweden, and the verification of the functionality of the nuclear component in Germany, which is likely next in line for modernization after the British and Dutch."Finally, all of this was done with the 'assistance' of Russian drones and a diesel submarine. The latter, like a 'vaccine' against European pacifism, allowed NATO to practice countering the latest destructive technologies that can be used in new-generation warfare," concludes Oleksii Yizhak.