VIDEO NATO exercise in Alba: The military built a floating bridge over Mureş in about 15 minutes
The pontoon bridge raised over Mureș. PHOTO: Unirea newspaper
On Sunday, Romanian, French and Portuguese soldiers held an exercise in Sântimbru, Alba county, during which they tested interoperability and speed in building bridges and crossing the Mureș river. The training took place within the Dacian Fall 2025 multinational exercise, Ziarul Unirea reports.
Romanian military and other NATO states present in Romania continued, this weekend, training as part of the Dacian Fall 2025 exercise.
On Sunday, in Alba County, in Sântimbru, Romanian, French and Portuguese military officers organized a training session dedicated to the training of genius elements and built a floating bridge on the Mureş River.
The pontoon bridge, which has three walking lanes, was built in about 15 minutes, with the involvement of 10-15 people, Ziarul Unirea notes.
The training in Sântimbru represents, according to MApN, a “complex mission of crossing the Mureş River, action supported by air support from allied helicopters, which will perform reconnaissance, protection and air transport missions”.
“It is a joint training exercise of the Romanian and French armies. The objective is to cross the river, to secure the way for ground forces, infantry, genius, cavalry. We must be quick and, above all, make sure that we do not suffer any losses, this is the most important thing. We work together, we trained together, we have other NATO armies with us, for example today we have Portuguese soldiers with us”, he explained Captain Dylan, coordinator of the troops that participated in the exercise on the Mures River.
“It was a very good exercise, it shows NATO's ability to, in a short time, deploy a combat-ready brigade on NATO's eastern flank and it shows that we are very solidary with our allies,” said French General Do Tran, commander of the participating French brigade.
Another military man who took part in the exercise on Sunday notes that there are differences between the armies of different NATO countries, but they manage to overcome them and that they collaborate as if they were one army.
The Dacian Fall 2025 exercise
More than 5,000 soldiers with approximately 1,200 technical means from ten allied states – Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Italy, Luxembourg, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Spain – are participating, between October 20 and November 13, in the multinational exercise Dacian Fall 2025 (DAFA 25), held on the territory of Romania and Bulgaria, according to MApN.
DAFA 25 aims at the operational integration of the participating forces provided by the contributing nations – mainly France and Romania – and marks the final stage of temporary elevation to brigade level of NATO Battle Groups in Romania and Bulgaria.
The NATO exercises, including Dacian Fall 2025, have an exclusively defensive character and are carried out in full compliance with the international obligations assumed by Romania, the ministry stated.
