Allied forces test new capability with helicopter to deck assault in NATO amphibious combat operation.

U.S. Marines from Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment executed a coordinated helicopter boarding operation on July 6, 2025, as part of Atlantic Alliance 2025, a large-scale multinational naval and amphibious exercise taking place along the Eastern Seaboard of the United States. The operation involved a Royal Netherlands Navy NH90 helicopter launched from the Dutch amphibious platform HNLMS Johan de Witt (L 801), delivering Marines to the flight deck of the USS New York (LPD 21), a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock. This air assault evolution demonstrated the high level of interoperability between allied forces and served as a practical validation of NATO’s capacity to conduct integrated sea-based force projection.
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U.S. Marines with Fox Company, 2d Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2d Marine Division, board a Royal Netherlands Navy NH90 helicopter from the Rotterdam-class landing platform dock HNLMS Johan de Witt (L 801), during exercise Atlantic Alliance 2025 (AA25) aboard the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship USS New York (LPD 21), July 6, 2025. (Picture source: U.S. DoD)

The HNLMS Johan de Witt is a Rotterdam-class landing platform dock (LPD) designed to support expeditionary amphibious operations by embarking, transporting, and landing marine units along with their vehicles and equipment. It features a well deck for landing craft, a large flight deck capable of operating multiple helicopters, and a robust command-and-control suite for joint task force operations. The platform is optimized for international missions involving rapid deployment, disaster response, and maritime security. In NATO exercises such as Atlantic Alliance 2025, Johan de Witt acts as a command hub and launch point for air and sea-based amphibious maneuvers, enabling Dutch and allied forces to operate as an integrated task group.

USS New York (LPD 21), a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock of the U.S. Navy, serves a complementary role by projecting Marine forces ashore using landing craft, amphibious vehicles, and helicopters. It is equipped with advanced communications systems, aviation facilities, and a well deck designed to deploy both traditional and high-speed surface connectors. The vessel plays a vital role in the U.S. Navy–Marine Corps amphibious ready group, providing flexible sea-based support for a range of missions including forced entry, non-combatant evacuation operations, and crisis response. During AA25, USS New York operated as a key platform for joint rotary-wing and amphibious operations, facilitating seamless coordination with allied assets such as the NH90 helicopter.

Atlantic Alliance 2025 unites over 25 maritime and ground units from the United States, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom in a high-readiness framework designed to reinforce joint operational capacity. The exercise spans operations from North Carolina to Maine, focusing on critical scenarios such as amphibious landings, bilateral reconnaissance, naval strait transits, and large-scale war-at-sea simulations. Each event is tailored to enhance joint decision-making, maneuver synchronization, and tactical responsiveness across NATO maritime and littoral forces.

Amphibious operations represent a core capability for projecting power in regions where port infrastructure is denied or contested. In potential conflict zones, such as the Baltic Sea, Eastern Mediterranean, or Indo-Pacific, amphibious forces are uniquely positioned to establish beachheads, conduct rapid humanitarian interventions, or support special operations in austere environments. By maintaining a flexible combination of sea-based logistics, rotary-wing mobility, and infantry maneuverability, amphibious units serve as a strategic bridge between naval supremacy and land-based power projection.

International exercises like Atlantic Alliance 2025 are essential for building and validating these capabilities under joint command. They provide a realistic operational laboratory to test emerging technologies, refine allied command-and-control frameworks, and strengthen force interoperability. With peer and near-peer competitors enhancing their own anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) strategies, NATO's ability to deliver rapid, scalable amphibious responses remains a critical deterrent and crisis-response option. Whether in the face of sudden regional instability, contested island territories, or hybrid threats in littoral zones, amphibious forces offer unmatched strategic flexibility for alliance operations worldwide.

The helicopter boarding evolution conducted during AA25 is more than a training maneuver—it reflects the future of multinational military cooperation. By rehearsing integrated operations across air, sea, and land components, participating forces are actively preparing for the complex operational challenges of tomorrow. As global security dynamics continue to shift, exercises like Atlantic Alliance 2025 underscore NATO’s commitment to collective defense, rapid deployment capability, and sustained maritime dominance.

The ability of allied forces to train together in complex amphibious operations is not only essential but strategically decisive in today’s evolving security environment. Exercises like Atlantic Alliance 2025 serve as a proving ground for harmonizing tactics, communication protocols, and logistical coordination between nations with different doctrines, equipment, and command structures. Amphibious warfare, by nature, demands precise synchronization between naval and ground forces, and when multiple nations are involved, that complexity multiplies.

Regular multinational training ensures that these forces can rapidly integrate during real-world contingencies, whether responding to a regional conflict, executing a large-scale intervention, or delivering humanitarian assistance in denied or austere coastal environments. The success of such operations hinges on trust, shared procedures, and familiarity—outcomes that can only be achieved through consistent, high-fidelity joint training. Atlantic Alliance 2025 is a clear demonstration that NATO’s amphibious forces are not only interoperable, but capable of delivering a unified and effective response anywhere in the world.