German Gen. Hans-Lothar Domröse will be the commanding officer for 36,000 soldiers in nato’s largest military exercise since 2002—Operation Trident Juncture. The Bundeswehr is contributing 3,000 troops to the exercise, which is scheduled for late September in Portugal, Spain and Italy.

A nato press briefing on July 15 revealed that the exercise will address “terrorism, subversion [and] instability in a brewing crisis.” Operation Trident Juncture will evaluate “new concepts, new methods of operation around cyber, missile defense, interconnected communication networks.” Some analysts believe nato is using such operations to prepare for future confrontation with militant organizations such as the Islamic State.

Last year, the Bundeswehr also took over command of Estonia’s Amari Air Base to support the monitoring of Baltic airspace. Estonian Army Cmdr. Riho Terras said, “For us, this indicates the determination of Germany to contribute to our security through solidarity to nato” (Der Taggespiegel, translation ours). nato jets have already scrambled over 100 times this year to identify Russian military aircraft crossing into Baltic airspace.

In 2012, the Atlantic Council published a report, “Anchoring the Alliance,” stating Germany should “play a leading military role in future Alliance operations.” The authors continued: “The key strategic question facing Germany today is whether it can take the next step in its historic postwar transformation by becoming a more influential global power and a stronger military and political leader of Europe.”

Late last year, Der Spiegel reported on Germany’s limited military capabilities. German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen has struggled to transform the Bundeswehr “into an intervention army capable of mastering deployments like those in Kosovo or Afghanistan,” Der Spiegel said.

Germany is already Europe’s economic and political leader, but it’s yet to become its military leader as well. nato’s calls for a strong German military with powerful influence will soon become reality. To learn the full significance of that development, read Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry’s article “A Strong German Leader Is Imminent.”