Exercise Cold Response 26, led by Norway has begun on Monday in Northern parts of Finland, Norway and Sweden where 25,000 soldiers from 14 countries are taking part.
The series of Arctic exercises will continue till March 20, said Finnish Defence Forces.
The exercise is part of NATO’s enhanced presence, Arctic Sentry, which strengthens the Alliance's capability and permanent presence in the Nordic area.
The Field Training Exercise in Finland will involve soldiers from Finland, Sweden, the United States, France, Italy and the United Kingdom.
Only about 3,500 of the total 7,500 NATO soldiers operating in the Army-led exercise are Finnish. One of the key objectives of the exercise is to improve the Finnish Defence Forces’ capacity to receive and lead forces from the Allied countries.
“For us, this is the most important exercise of the year also from the perspective of logistics and Host Nation Support. Interoperability between us and the forces participating in the exercise is already good, but no combat is possible until we have got the forces successfully to the area. Exercises in which we get to practise how to transport forces safely and seamlessly in winter conditions are therefore very important,” said director of the Army exercise Colonel Marko Kivelä.
The exercise will take place primarily in the Rovajärvi training area, but military units will affect traffic also elsewhere. The areas affected include Rovaniemi, Kemijärvi and Sodankylä in particular, both before and after the exercise.
The largest individual international unit participating in the exercise is a Swedish Division headquarters and its subordinate units, which will be transported to Finland via several border crossing points simultaneously.
The Swedish forces will affect the traffic on 9-12 March especially on main road 4 (VT4) between Tornio and Rovamiemi, trunk road 83 (KT83) between Pello and Rovaniemi, and on trunk road 82 (KT82) in the vicinity of Rovajärvi. Also, Kuusamontie until Oikarainen and from there to Permantokoski to Pattaskivalo and further to road 82 will be affected.
The second largest individual unit in the exercise is a French Battalion. Apart from their own equipment, the French soldiers will also be using the Finnish Defence Forces’ vehicles.
The unit will move to the training area from the garrison in Sodankylä. An Italian unit, Jaeger Brigade companies and the reservist units that will be made up in Sodankylä will also be transported to the exercise from Sodankylä.
These units will affect the traffic on main road 4, on Ristonmänniköntie and Javaruksentie especially on Tuesday, 10 March.
“This is an important exercise also for our conscripts and reservists. Conscripts and personnel from various brigade-level units get to cooperate in demanding winter conditions of Rovajärvi, and challenge themselves. The majority of our forces is made up of reservists. It is great that they will get more and more experience in cooperating with soldiers from other NATO member states,” Kivelä said.
Apart from Sodankylä, most of the Finnish troops participating in the exercise will be transported from Kajaani, Rovaniemi and Hämeenlinna. The national troops will affect the traffic on main road 4, especially between Rovaniemi and Sodankylä, and on main road 5, between Kajaani and Sodankylä, on 9-10 March.
- Exercise
- Cold Response
- Begins
Source: www.dailyfinland.fi
