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NATO has launched the fourth and final 2026 iteration of Neptune Strike, bringing together 17 allied nations, more than 20 naval vessels, 40 aircraft and roughly 52 coordinated activities from the Mediterranean through the Baltic and into the North Atlantic and High North. The operation is centered on two carrier strike groups, Britain’s HMS Prince of Wales and Italy’s ITS Cavour, plus Turkey’s Anadolu Naval Task Group, built around the drone-capable amphibious assault ship TCG Anadolu. STRIKFORNATO is coordinating the formations with submarines, land-based missile units, aerial tankers, fighter aircraft and amphibious forces across all three NATO Joint Operations Areas.
Neptune Strike 26-4
NATO Is Operating Three Different Sea-Based Strike Models at Once
A British fifth-generation carrier group in northern waters, an Italian carrier group conducting long-range Mediterranean strike training and a Turkish drone-amphibious formation in the Adriatic and Ionian seas are being coordinated through one NATO maritime-strike framework.
Allied Nations
17
Participating across northern, central and southern Europe.
Naval Vessels
20+
Carrier groups, escorts, submarines, tankers and mine-warfare ships.
Aircraft
40
Carrier fighters, land-based aircraft, tankers, helicopters and UAVs.
Coordinated Activities
~52
Spread across NATO's three Joint Operations Areas.
North Atlantic / High North
HMS Prince of Wales
Core Escorts
Dauntless + Fridtjof Nansen
British Type 45 air defence and Norwegian frigate support.
Air Power
F-35B Lightning II
Carrier aircraft are reaching into Baltic and Finnish training areas.
Additional Air Group
Merlin + Wildcat + Malloy
Anti-submarine, commando, utility and uncrewed aviation capability.
Mediterranean
ITS Cavour
Core Escorts
Andrea Doria + Virginio Fasan
Air-defence destroyer plus FREMM frigate.
Carrier Air Wing
F-35B + AV-8B
Italy is operating both fifth-generation and Harrier strike aircraft.
Long-Range Support
French MRTT
French tankers are extending Italian carrier strike reach.
Adriatic / Ionian
TCG Anadolu
Task Group
Gaziantep + Gür
Frigate escort plus an embarked-task-group submarine.
Uncrewed Aviation
3 × Bayraktar TB3
Shipborne UAV capability operating from Anadolu's flight deck.
Landing Force
Marine Battalion
Amphibious operations were demonstrated off Albania.
The NATO Strike Chain Being Tested
Sea-Based Sensors
Carriers, frigates, destroyers and submarines build the maritime picture.
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NATO Command
STRIKFORNATO coordinates national formations across multiple operational regions.
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Joint Fires
Carrier aircraft, land-based fighters and coastal missile batteries are connected.
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Amphibious Effects
Marines, UAVs, landing forces and submarines add options beyond carrier aviation.
Terminology:
Prince of Wales and Cavour lead carrier strike groups.
NATO and Turkey describe the third core formation as the Anadolu Naval Task Group,
not as a conventional aircraft-carrier strike group.
Neptune Strike 26-4 · Force Architecture
Three Lead Formations Sit on Top of NATO's Standing Maritime Forces
The headline carriers are only part of the exercise. NATO's standing surface and mine-countermeasure groups are operating simultaneously across northern and southern Europe.
Force and capability board
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| Formation | Core Ships | Aviation | Primary Role | Current Activity | What NATO Is Testing | Operational Limitation / Distinction |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK Carrier Strike Group Northern Europe / High North | HMS Prince of Wales, HMS Dauntless and HNoMS Fridtjof Nansen. | F-35B fighters, Merlin Mk2 and Mk4 helicopters, Wildcat helicopters and Malloy drones. | Sea-based air power, air defence, anti-submarine warfare and long-range maritime strike. | Carrier aircraft are participating in Baltic and Finnish strike integration while the group operates from northern waters. | Moving carrier-generated air power from one maritime region into another NATO commander's joint-fire architecture. | NATO has not publicly released a detailed current F-35 sortie rate or full embarked fighter count for this phase. |
| Italian Carrier Strike Group Mediterranean | ITS Cavour, ITS Andrea Doria and ITS Virginio Fasan. | F-35B Lightning II and AV-8B Harrier II aircraft. | Carrier strike, air defence, anti-submarine warfare and maritime power projection. | Long-range carrier-strike drills supported by French Air Force MRTT aerial-refuelling aircraft. | Extending the reach of a European carrier air wing through allied tanker support rather than relying only on national assets. | Cavour is simultaneously tied into Italy's larger Mare Aperto exercise, creating overlapping national and NATO command activity. |
| Anadolu Naval Task Group Adriatic / Ionian | TCG Anadolu, TCG Gaziantep and submarine TCG Gür. | Three Bayraktar TB3 UAVs plus helicopters. | Amphibious operations, uncrewed aviation, Marine lift and subsurface integration. | Conducted an amphibious demonstration off Albania with an embarked Turkish Marine battalion. | Integrating a drone-capable amphibious deck into the same NATO maritime-strike system used by conventional aircraft carriers. | Anadolu is not a conventional fixed-wing fighter carrier and should not be treated as equivalent to Prince of Wales or Cavour. |
| SNMG1 Atlantic / Baltic / High North | FGS Berlin, HMCS Ville de Québec, NRP D. Francisco de Almeida, FS Commandant Blaison and FS Somme. | Organic helicopters and national supporting aircraft depending on tasking. | Standing surface-force presence, escort, surveillance and maritime security. | Operating in NATO's northern maritime regions alongside the larger strike formations. | Connecting standing forces with higher-end carrier operations without rebuilding a new task group for each crisis. | Composition changes routinely as nations rotate assigned ships. |
| SNMG2 Mediterranean / Southern Europe | HS Kountouriotis, ESPS Blas de Lezo, ESPS Patiño, ITS Federico Martinengo and TCG Burgazada. | Organic rotary-wing aviation plus national support. | Standing maritime security, escort, surveillance and surface warfare. | Operating alongside the Italian and Turkish formations in southern Europe. | Combining persistent standing naval presence with temporarily assigned carrier and amphibious strike power. | The group is a standing NATO formation, not part of Cavour's national carrier escort screen. |
| Mine Countermeasure Groups North + South | Lithuanian, Polish and Finnish units in the north; German, Italian, Spanish and Turkish units in the south. | Mine-warfare sensors, boats and remotely operated systems rather than strike aircraft. | Route clearance, mine hunting and protection of maritime access. | Operating within the same broad exercise architecture as the strike groups. | Keeping ports, approaches and sea lanes usable while higher-end forces conduct combat operations. | Mine warfare is less visible than carrier aviation but can become a critical constraint on fleet movement during conflict. |
Force and capability board
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Force-count caution:
NATO's headline figure of more than 20 ships covers the overall activity.
Ships assigned to standing groups and national formations can participate in
overlapping exercises or phases, so individual lists should not simply be added
together to create a larger independent ship count.
Ship Universe NATO Maritime Explorer
Explore Neptune Strike by Theatre
Switch between the three main operating areas to see how NATO is combining carriers, drones, submarines, coastal missiles and allied air support.
Lead Maritime Formation
Prince of Wales CSG
British carrier air power is operating from northern waters while
contributing to joint-strike training farther east in the Baltic region.
Carrier Aircraft
F-35B
Fifth-generation strike aircraft embarked on HMS Prince of Wales.
Allied Air
French Rafale
Integrated with the broader Finland/Baltic strike scenario.
Land / Littoral Fires
Finnish Coastal Missiles
Surface-to-surface missile batteries participate in coordinated targeting.
Standing NATO Presence
SNMG1 + SNMCMG1
Surface combatants and mine-countermeasure units operate in the same northern region.
Operational Effect Being Tested
Carrier Air Power Without Geographic Isolation
The carrier does not need to sit inside the Baltic to contribute air power there.
NATO is practicing a command chain in which sea-based fighters, national land-based
aircraft and coastal missile batteries participate in the same joint-fire problem.
Lead Maritime Formation
Cavour CSG
Italy's carrier formation is practicing extended-range strike operations
while simultaneously participating in the Mare Aperto national exercise.
Carrier Aircraft
F-35B + AV-8B
Two generations of short-takeoff/vertical-landing combat aircraft.
Air Refueling
French MRTT
Allied tanker aircraft increase the practical radius of the carrier air wing.
Air Defence
ITS Andrea Doria
Horizon-class destroyer provides high-end escort capability.
Southern Standing Force
SNMG2 + SNMCMG2
Persistent NATO surface and mine-warfare groups provide additional depth.
Operational Effect Being Tested
Multinational Carrier Strike Reach
A carrier's effective strike radius is no longer determined only by the
support aircraft owned by the carrier's nation. French aerial refueling
can extend an Italian carrier mission under NATO command.
Lead Maritime Formation
Anadolu Task Group
Türkiye is supplying a different form of sea-based combat power:
amphibious troops, uncrewed aircraft and a submarine operating around one large deck.
Uncrewed Air
3 × TB3
Bayraktar TB3 aircraft are embarked aboard the amphibious assault ship.
Landing Force
Marine Battalion
Amphibious troops provide a land-combat component directly from the task group.
Surface Escort
TCG Gaziantep
Frigate protection and surface-warfare capability.
Subsurface
TCG Gür
Submarine capability embedded within the Turkish task-group architecture.
Operational Effect Being Tested
Drone + Amphibious + Submarine Integration
Anadolu shows how a large flight-deck amphibious ship can contribute
surveillance, uncrewed strike, troop lift and command functions without
operating a conventional fixed-wing fighter air wing.
Current public-data view:
NATO has released the major formations and selected activities but not a complete
sortie schedule, detailed aircraft inventory for every participant or full tactical
scenario. This explorer therefore uses only publicly identified capabilities.
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