# Over 2,500 Troops Join Joint Rhino Titan Drill in Germany, One of Britain's Biggest Airborne Exercises in 20 Years > British, French and German forces staged a large-scale airborne exercise at the Sennelager base in northwestern Germany, dropping 600 paratroopers from RAF transport planes in a drill explicitly built around defending NATO territory against drone and electronic warfare threats. - Source: Berlin Today - Canonical URL: https://berlintoday.eu/article/over-2-500-troops-join-joint-rhino-titan-drill-in-germany-one-of-britain-s-biggest-airborne-exercises-in-20-years - Author: Doug Brown - Section: News - Published: 2026-10-25T20:31:49.919Z - Updated: 2026-10-25T20:31:49.919Z - Tags: Germany, NATO, military exercise, 16 Air Assault Brigade, paratroopers, United Kingdom, France, defense --- More than 2,500 military personnel took part in the Joint Rhino Titan exercise at the Sennelager training area in northwestern Germany, a multinational drill bringing together British, French and German forces in what organizers described as one of the United Kingdom's largest airborne operations of the past two decades. At the center of the exercise were 600 paratroopers from the UK's 16 Air Assault Brigade, who jumped from RAF A400M transport aircraft in what marked the first time that aircraft type had been used for low-altitude airdrops in this kind of operation. ## Training for a Modern Battlefield Brigadier Ed Cartwright, the brigade's commander, framed the exercise around defending NATO territory and the challenges of the modern battlefield, language that pointed toward threats well beyond traditional ground combat. The scenario built into the drill involved a simulated enemy equipped with unmanned aerial vehicles and electronic warfare systems, capabilities widely associated with how Russia has fought in Ukraine. UK Defence Secretary Wes Streeting tied the exercise directly to NATO's broader deterrence posture, saying the aim was to be able to quickly provide powerful air support where it is needed to defend alliance territory, a framing that positioned the drill as rehearsal for a real contingency rather than a routine training rotation. ## A Rapid-Response Force on Display The 16 Air Assault Brigade forms part of Britain's Global Response Force, a unit structure maintained specifically for rapid deployment to humanitarian or military crises. Showcasing that force's airborne capability on German soil, alongside French and German troops, underscored how seriously NATO members are treating the need to demonstrate they can move large numbers of troops into position quickly if a crisis on the alliance's eastern flank demanded it. ## Why It Matters Large-scale, multinational airborne exercises like this one serve a dual purpose: sharpening the actual operational skills involved in rapid troop deployment, and sending a visible signal of readiness to anyone watching from outside the alliance. With the drill explicitly built around countering drone and electronic warfare threats, the kind of capabilities Russia has leaned on heavily in Ukraine, the message behind Joint Rhino Titan was not subtle about who NATO planners have in mind. --- Originally published by Berlin Today. Free to cite with attribution and a link to https://berlintoday.eu/article/over-2-500-troops-join-joint-rhino-titan-drill-in-germany-one-of-britain-s-biggest-airborne-exercises-in-20-years.