Sweden takes part in major NATO military exercise in the Arctic for the first time

Since January, a series of NATO military exercises have taken place in Europe. It is the largest joint training and defense operation between allies since the end of the Cold War. In total, 90,000 soldiers are involved. In this context, the Nordic Response exercise begins on Sunday March 3 in the Arctic. For the first time, Sweden will participate. The country is not yet officially a member of the alliance, but Stockholm is committing 4,500 soldiers to this exercise and making its territory available to NATO.

The training area is thus expanding by more than 500 square kilometers, Swedish airports and military bases will be taken over by Alliance troops and part of the logistical infrastructure (roads, rail) which links the Norway, Sweden and Finland can be tested by the allies. For the 20,000 soldiers from 13 countries, this will be the opportunity to train across the whole of Western Lapland. It will also be the very first test of a joint air defense operation between all the Nordic countries, within a NATO framework. Norway, Finland and Sweden are very integrated from an aerial point of view since they have been training together almost weekly since 2009. This exercise will therefore be an opportunity to show it to the allies.

A northern zone with different commands

Nordic Response is also an opportunity to examine the level of interoperability of land and naval forces, and for all the countries of the “South”, notably France, to train in a region with harsh climatic conditions, this Arctic environment. that the Russian enemy – never named but well in everyone’s minds – knows very well.

When we look at a map, we understand that Sweden’s entry into NATO was the missing piece of the puzzle in the region since the country is in the center. But if this makes sense from a geostrategic point of view, this northern zone, so united on the ground, is nevertheless divided within the structure of the NATO institution since Norway is under the command of Norfolk, in the United States. United, while Finland and Denmark are incorporated in Brunssum, Netherlands. The question now is whether Sweden’s entry into NATO should not lead to a new security architecture for the region, so that all of the Nordic countries are in fact under an integrated command. For the moment, it is not decided.