Did you hear? Some 3,500 Bundeswehr soldiers using 700 air and ground military vehicles, with the aid of surveillance drones and elite special forces units, successfully invaded Obsidia earlier this month.

Thankfully you have nothing to fear. The world isn’t at war, at least for now. Obsidia is merely a fictitious name given to the city recently invaded by German forces as part of the nation’s most recent military exercise.

Even still, this military drill is worth noting, both for its scale and complexity—and for what it portends.

Although Operation Obsidia didn’t make headlines in the English-language media, our friends at German-Foreign-Policy.com, citing the Bundeswehr website and sources within Germany’s military, reported on the recent military action (emphasis added throughout):

According to the German military, a major maneuver was carried out from September 30 to October 10, at the Bergen and Munster training grounds in the Lueneburg Heath—in the close vicinity of the former Nazi Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp. The so-called “land operations” informational training exercise, with the participation of a total of 3,500 soldiers and 700 ground and aerial vehicles, was aimed at training prospective general and admiral staff officers from the German Armed Forces Staff College and Army officer cadets.

The scope of Operation Obsidia was vast and complex, and went beyond just the “house by house” invasion by Bundeswehr soldiers. Prior to the invasion, human spies, various surveillance vehicles and even drones gathered vital strategic intelligence, which was then used to coordinate the ground assault. During the invasion, troops also practiced exercises in crowd and riot control.

“The Bundeswehr recounts that engineer corps troops placed ‘access explosive charges’ in individual buildings, while armored infantry demonstrated the ‘rapid capture of smaller groups of houses’ and snipers ‘kept watch for dangerous point targets’” (ibid).

German-Foreign-Policy.com also cited sources within the Bundeswehr explaining the use of live ammunition:

This major maneuver was concluded with “combat firing,” where the infantry, cavalry and helicopter units all fired live rounds of ammunition. This demonstrated to the future military commanders “what is means to coordinate troops and fire power.” … The Germany military has consequently designated this training of its general staff officers as being “close to reality and mission.”

Which brings us to the inevitable question, what does this portend?

Here’s the answer, given by Lt. Gen. Bruno Kasdord, Inspector General of the Bundeswehr and a participant in Operation Obsidia: German officers must be educated in the full “spectrum” of warfare so they can “be prepared for the challenges of the future.”