Around 180 soldiers from the Pennsylvania Army National Guard’s 28th Infantry Division have been deployed to Kosovo to take part in Immediate Response 25, a major U.S.-led military exercise involving the Kosovo Security Force (KSF), the U.S. Embassy in Pristina said on Wednesday.
The deployment is part of Defender 25, the U.S. Army’s largest annual exercise in Europe, aimed at strengthening readiness, improving strategic mobility, and reinforcing cooperation with NATO allies and partners.
Immediate Response 25 runs from May 26 to June 9 and includes more than 12,000 troops from the United States, allied, and partner nations. Military drills are taking place in eight countries: Kosovo, Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Slovakia.
In Kosovo, the 28th Infantry Division will operate as a division-level headquarters overseeing a multinational brigade in coordination with the KSF.
On June 3, soldiers from the 28th Infantry Division, along with personnel from the Iowa Army National Guard and the KSF, will participate in a national-level training exercise at the Babaj Bokes Training Area.
The exercises in Kosovo support the KSF’s ongoing transition into a multi-ethnic, NATO-interoperable territorial defence force under civilian oversight, the embassy said.
Defender 25, led by U.S. Army Europe and Africa, involves over 25,000 troops from 29 allied and partner nations. The operation uses 14 aerial ports of embarkation in the continental United States and deploys more than 3,000 pieces of equipment across 18 host nations.
The exercise is designed to demonstrate the U.S. Army’s ability to deploy rapidly from the United States to Europe and conduct large-scale combat operations alongside allies and partners.