U.S. 2nd Fleet personnel board a Marine Corps C-40 at Naval Air Station Oceana, Va., Feb. 7, 2024, for a flight to Bodo, Norway. About 100 sailors and Marines have been deployed to the Arctic city for exercise Steadfast Defender. (Anderson W Branch/U.S. Navy)

More than 100 U.S. sailors and Marines are in the high north of Norway to establish a maritime command as part of NATO’s largest military exercise in Europe since the Cold War, according to the Navy.

U.S. 2nd Fleet and Expeditionary Strike Group 2 personnel left Naval Air Station Oceana, Va., on Feb. 7 to form a unit in Bodo to command and support maritime forces during Steadfast Defender, a Navy statement Tuesday said.

The exercise kicked off last month with the departure of the dock landing ship USS Gunston Hall from Norfolk, Va. It will include more than 90,000 forces from all 31 NATO countries and prospective member Sweden, according to the statement.

During Steadfast Defender, allied forces will practice skills in varying climates, terrains and circumstances against the threat of Russian aggression in Europe. Joint Force Command Norfolk and 2nd Fleet worked with allies in planning the exercise.

A U.K.-led sea component of the exercise, Joint Warrior, begins Feb. 24. That exercise will include sailors and Marines from U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa, Stars and Stripes reported last month.

The Navy has seen demands in the European theater grow in recent years, with Russian threats in the Baltic Sea, the war in Ukraine and operations in the Mediterranean Sea related to the Israel-Hamas war.

Influenced by those growing needs, U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa and U.S. 6th Fleet began the process of separating late last year after having operated as a single command since 2005.