NATO on Monday began military exercises aimed at protecting its newly expanded northern territory, involving more than 20,000 soldiers from 13 countries, MTI wrote. The exercises, which will last for approximately two weeks, will be held in the northern regions of Finland, Norway and Sweden, and will be “integrated” into the comprehensive NATO military exercise “Standing Defender 24”.
This year, the exercise will be hosted equally by Finland, Norway and Sweden, with the participation of the United States of America, Belgium, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Canada, Great Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain.
It has been a member of NATO for a long time Norway More than four thousand people from militarily neutral Finland, which joined NATO last year, are participating in the exercise codenamed “Nordic Response 2024.” The Finnish Ministry of Defense announced in a statement that the country It participates for the first time as a NATO member state in the “Allied Territorial Defense Exercise.”
The Swedish army, which will soon become a member, said that its air forces, land forces and naval forces were present with about 4,500 soldiers to participate in the exercises taking place in Arctic winter conditions.
NATO's biennial exercises in the northern Norwegian Arctic have until now been called “Cold Response”, and according to the Norwegian Armed Forces, the name was changed due to the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO.
Nearly half of the participating forces are conducting ground exercises. At sea, the exercises are being conducted with the participation of more than 50 submarines, frigates, cruisers, aircraft carriers and various amphibious ships, and in the air with the help of more than a hundred combat aircraft, transport aircraft, maritime surveillance aircraft and helicopters. The Norwegian Army said.
As previously mentioned, the Northern exercise is “integrated” into NATO’s overall military exercise “Standing Defender 24”, which was the alliance’s largest military exercise in decades. A total of 90,000 soldiers will participate in it, and it will last several months, and its purpose is to prove that the coalition is capable of defending its entire territory up to the Russian border.
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