The exercise, called Nordic Response 2024, is led by Norway and involves more than 4,000 troops from Finland, which recently joined NATO. "For the first time as a NATO member state, Finland will participate in collective defense in the alliance's territories," the Finnish Defense Forces said.
The exercise will also include Sweden, which is set to become NATO’s 32nd member. The Swedish Armed Forces said around 4,500 servicemen from the air force, army and navy will take part in the exercise, which will be conducted in harsh Arctic winter conditions.
Swedish Air Force JAS 39 Gripen fighter jet. Photo: AP
For many years, this biennial NATO exercise, held in the Arctic Circle of northern Norway, has been called "Cold Response."
However, the Norwegian Armed Forces said that thanks to NATO's expansion to Finland and Sweden, the Cold Response exercise will be expanded to Nordic Response. This year, the exercise is co-hosted by Finland, Norway and Sweden.
The Nordic-wide exercise is part of Steadfast Defender 24 - NATO's biggest exercise in decades, with up to 90,000 troops taking part in months of exercises aimed at demonstrating that the alliance can defend its entire territory all the way to the border with Russia.
The current exercise runs until March 15 and involves Belgium, the United Kingdom, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United States.
About half of the troops will be on land. The rest will train at sea with more than 50 submarines, destroyers, frigates, aircraft carriers and various landing ships, according to the Norwegian military. Air training will involve more than 100 fighter jets, transport aircraft, maritime surveillance aircraft and helicopters.
A Eurofighter Typhoon lands at NATO's newly rebuilt air base in Kucova, Albania on March 4, 2024. Photo: Reuters
In another development that shows NATO is strengthening military cooperation with its allies, Albania - the 29th member state of the bloc - has just reopened Kucova, a renovated Soviet-era air base, to receive NATO aircraft.
NATO has spent more than 50 million euros on Kucova air base to increase its presence in the region. With a 1,931-meter runway, it will be able to support NATO logistics, air operations, training and exercises.
Two fighter jets flying from NATO's Aviano air base in Italy landed at Kucova to mark the reopening of the airport. At the inauguration ceremony, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said: "This is a base that will add another layer of security to the Western Balkans...".
Hoai Phuong (according to AP, Reuters)
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