Germany will contribute around 10 staff officers, up to two A400M tanker aircraft and logistical support to Koalicja 2026, the first military exercise of the Coalition of the Willing in support of Ukraine, set for November in Poland, Romanian airspace and the western Black Sea.
Germany will take part in the first military exercise of the Coalition of the Willing in support of Ukraine, its Defence Ministry has told the dpa news agency. The Bundeswehr will contribute around 10 staff officers, up to two A400M transport aircraft for aerial refuelling, and logistical support for moving troops through German territory. The ministry described participation as a sign of unity with Germany's partners.
The exercise, called Koalicja 2026 in Polish, is scheduled for November in Poland, in airspace over Romania and over the western Black Sea. It will test, for the first time, the operational readiness of the multinational force assembled by Ukraine's allies under French and British leadership to help secure a potential future peace deal with Russia. The coalition is made up of around 35 countries.
The force was agreed at a Ukraine summit in Berlin in December 2025, and French President Emmanuel Macron declared it operational in mid-July 2026, saying the exercises would demonstrate that the allies are ready, determined and credible on land, in the air and at sea. The full extent of Germany's involvement in the force itself has yet to be decided, and Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said the government and parliament will decide the nature and scope of Germany's contribution. The exercise is distinct from Exercise Rhino Titan, the British and French airborne exercise in Germany covered in an earlier report.
The German contribution and the exercise location come from the Defence Ministry's statement to dpa. The coalition's size is reported as around 35 countries, and no official total troop figure has been published: a figure of 1,500 French, British and German soldiers attributed to The Times was flagged as unconfirmed, with British Defence Secretary Wes Streeting referring only to thousands, so it is not repeated here as fact.
Koalicja 2026 is the first practical test of a force designed to backstop a ceasefire rather than fight a war. How Germany's limited contribution is received by its partners, and what the Bundestag decides about a larger role, will shape whether the coalition amounts to a credible security guarantee or remains a planning exercise. The November manoeuvre is the next point at which that question gets an answer.