北约计划大规模军事演习

NATO and its allies are set to hold their biggest military exercise in more than a decade later this year, deploying 36,000 personnel across the Mediterranean from October to November.

NATO commanders said on Wednesday the alliance would carry out some of its toughest training yet. A complex "artificial threat scenario" will see militants attack on land, from the air and at sea.

The exercises are part of NATO's commitment to a new "spearhead" rapid reaction force, including several thousand soldiers who could be sent to any potential hotspot in just two days.

More than 30 countries - including non-NATO nations such as Sweden and Austria - will take part in the exercises in Italy, Spain, Portugal, and in the Mediterranean.

NATO has not held exercises on this scale since 2002, when 15 members of the alliance and 12 partner nations tested their capabilities in Norway and Poland.