Sweden launched Aurora 23 on Monday, its largest military exercise in 30 years that aims to simulate an attack from a foreign power as it is soon expected to join the NATO alliance.
In the coming weeks, the Swedish army, navy, air force and home guard, helped by soldiers from 13 countries, will practise what they would do if Sweden were attacked by an unnamed foreign power.
The exercise runs from 17 April to 11 May and will affect cover large parts of the country, with combat exercises taking place on the ground, in the air and at sea, on training fields and civilian grounds.
The decision to conduct the exercise was made back in 2015, but according to Brigadier General Stefan Andersson, two important changes have taken place since then.
“One is that we have a war from the Russian side in Ukraine, at an uncomfortably close distance in our neighbourhood. The other is that we are now on our way into NATO, which makes this exercise even more important,” he told the Swedish media.
Sweden is expected to join NATO soon as it now only requires the approvals of the Turkish and Hungarian parliaments. While the Turkish parliament has so far consistently refused to stage a vote for Swedish accession due to the country’s refusal to extradite Kurdish opposition, Hungarian lawmakers argue that Sweden has been too critical of its human rights situation.
Andersson emphasised that one of the most important elements of the exercise is to see how well it works to receive foreign aid in the event of an outbreak of war.
As part of the exercise, about 700 US Marines and their equipment will be transported from Norway to test the efficiency of troop transport. In Oskarshamn, where there is a decommissioned nuclear power plant, 100 British soldiers will secure the port and airport so that Sweden can receive a motorised rifle battalion of one thousand soldiers from Finland.
The last time an exercise of this size took place was in 1993, when around 20,000 people participated in the exercise, known as Orkan (hurricane in Swedish).
The exercise will be seen and heard in many parts of the country, mainly in Southern Skåne, and Småland regions, where most of the combat exercises on training fields take place. They will also be seen on the strategically located island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea.
(Charles Szumski | EURACTIV.com)
Source: euractiv.com
