Green Bird special operations forces exercise: “We are serious about this.”

During the Green Bird exercise in May, specialised forces and special operations forces of the Bundeswehr trained special operations in national and collective defence together with Dutch military personnel. The focus was on the rapid planning and implementation of individual operations and the interaction of forces in the air and on the ground.

At a fictitious external NATO border, a simmering conflict threatens to escalate. Paramilitary forces are supplied with state-of-the-art weapons technology and secret information by the adversary. The highly dynamic development demands a prompt response: A paramilitary group supported by the adversary expects an arms delivery at a railway station close to the border. At the same time, other forces meet with enemy intelligence services to exchange information. And a meeting of command personnel provides a narrow window of opportunity to capture enemy forces. 

Three typical hybrid warfare scenarios that require the deployment of special operations forces – and scenarios of the Green Bird exercise. In May 2025, close to 400 troops of the special operations forces and specialised forces of the Bundeswehr practised these and other operations for two weeks – from tactical airlift including air support in a radius of 100 kilometres, to combat in built-up areas to detain target persons and prevention of arms smuggling as well as safeguarding of intelligence information from the adversary.

From planning directly to practical testing

What made the exercise special was not only the scenarios depicting special operations in the fight against hybrid warfare in national and collective defence. Green Bird was designed as an airborne exercise to practise the interaction of special operations forces and specialised forces in the air and on the ground as an integrated process, including joint planning, mission accomplishment and mission analysis. Lieutenant Colonel Alexander T.*, a pilot and project officer in 64 Helicopter Wing, explains: “Procedures and processes are often trained in isolation in command post exercises – without practical review. This is different with Green Bird. The tactical operation shows whether planning holds up in practice and where there is a need for improvement and adaptation.”

The capability to plan quickly and to implement the plan immediately is essential for successful special operations, also in national and collective defence. “A situation changes, an option for action opens up, and we need to react immediately – together, quickly, effectively, flexibly. There is no time for long coordination processes. This is the only way to show the adversary: We can do this. We are serious about this,” says T.

NATO requirement: multinational integration

As multinational partners, Netherlands SOF AIR special operations forces participated in Green Bird. They supported the exercise with their helicopters. This provided an opportunity to practise a NATO requirement in collective defence. As a matter of principle, all Allies are to coordinate their procedures in such a way that mutual support is possible in an emergency without long requisition times.

This means that, for example, German and Dutch special operations forces can operate effectively alongside one another in the same location outside the boundaries of purely national teams. Moreover, individual support capabilities of one nation, such as tactical airlift, must integrate seamlessly into another nation’s operation. The Green Bird exercise scenarios showed: Cooperation between German and Dutch forces works. Lieutenant Colonel T.: “It is not enough to be good on your own. You also have to work well together. Special operations forces can do this at very short notice – at a joint and multinational level.”

New conditions in national and collective defence

The entire exercise was largely planned and conducted in accordance with NATO standards. Germany’s Alliance commitments in NATO include a significant contribution to the special operations forces spectrum of tasks. As the exercise coordination command, the Bundeswehr Joint Force Command was responsible for the evaluation of the forces and capabilities involved.

Lieutenant Colonel Sebastian M. is Head of the Exercise Planning and Evaluation Branch of the Special Operations Directorate. He stresses that the Green Bird exercise takes place under different conditions than many previous special operations forces exercises: “In international conflict and crisis management, operations of the special operations forces were mostly self-contained individual missions. This has changed fundamentally. In national and collective defence, special operations forces operate even more in cooperation with all other military forces. They are no longer at the centre of an operation, but rather constitute a – at times essential – building block for overall military success.”

*    Names have been anonymised to protect military personnel