Coronavirus likely to delay Pentagon war games in Mideast to 2021
Mideast war exercises planned for this year are likely to be delayed until 2021, and other war games scheduled for next year may be delayed until 2022.
The Pentagon plans to postpone one of its largest war games exercises in the Middle East due to the coronavirus pandemic, Al-Monitor has learned.
Operation Bright Star, an exercise that brings together troops from several nations to train alongside and learn about Egypt’s military, will likely be postponed until 2021, a US official told Al-Monitor. It was originally set to be held this September.
The Defense Department is looking at several courses of action to reschedule the exercise, though a new date has not yet been set, the official said.
The US is also considering pushing back next year’s edition of Operation Eager Lion in Jordan, the largest war games in the Middle East, to avoid it coinciding with the rescheduled Bright Star exercise, according to the official. Eager Lion is held every other year and included forces from 30 countries in 2019.
