Every year, photographers from NATO forces take countless photos of military operations and ceremonial events. To recognise their efforts, NATO selected their 4 favourite photos from 2023, and shared them on social media, where the public could vote for the winner of NATO’s photo of the year.
The winning image, seen above, was taken by the British Army’s Royal Lancers (Queen Elizabeth’s Own) during Operation Cabrit, the UK operational deployment to Estonia, where UK troops led a NATO multinational battlegroup. NATO’s image caption reads, “the Royal Lancers get back to their cavalry heritage by conducting mounted armoured reconnaissance with the Polish Territorial Defence Force’s 2nd Lubelska (Lublin) Brigade.”
Check out the 3 other images that were part of the vote below:
![Romania's elite mountain troops train alongside their French Allies as part of NATO's multinational battlegroup in Romania. Pictured here: a soldier rappels from a massive pine tree in a snowy forest in Romania.](https://lensfront.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/GBYe784WAAAa8VK.jpeg)
![Standing NATO Maritime Group 1 and Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 1 join some 30 warships and more than 3,000 personnel from 15 countries for exercise Northern Coasts 23 in the central Baltic Sea. The two-week German-led naval exercise fosters interoperability and demonstrates Allied combat readiness and resolve to deter aggression.](https://lensfront.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Nato-image-of-the-year-3-768x1024.webp)
![A US Army paratrooper assigned to the 173rd Airborne Brigade looks up as fellow paratroopers descend towards him during an airborne operation on Frida Drop Zone, Pordenone, Italy. The 173rd Airborne Brigade is the US Army's Contingency Response Force in Europe, providing rapidly deployable forces to the United States European, African and Central Command areas of responsibility. The brigade routinely trains alongside NATO Allies and partners.](https://lensfront.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/GBYeT0PWUAAmoyx-717x1024.jpeg)