Russia warned Finland and Sweden on Thursday (April 14) that if they join NATO, Moscow will reinforce the Baltic Sea region, including with nuclear weapons, the Washington Post reported.
Posts tagged ‘Norway’
BALTIC-2-BLACK: Sweden, Finland Move Closer to NATO Membership; Russia Blusters and Threatens
Sweden, Finland and NATO.
The Nordic nations of Sweden and Finland, neutral during the Cold War, have been moving closer to NATO — participating in multi-national exercises with the forces of the western alliance — since Russia seized Crimea and grew increasingly belligerent in its military moves both on and above the Baltic Sea.
Russia’s February 24 invasion of non-NATO member Ukraine alarmed the Eastern members of NATO who used to be under the sway of Moscow — like Poland, Romania and the Czech Republic — to spend more on their defense forces and participate in more NATO exercises.Several are also supplying arms, medical equipment and technology to embattled Ukraine.
Finnish Troops participate in Exercise Cold Response 2022, a multinational Arctic weather military exercise hosted by Norway between March 14 and March 31. (Maavoimat – Armén – The Finnish Army, photo via Facebook)
The war in Ukraine pushed leaders in Sweden and Finland to publicly announce plans to consider joining the 30-member North Atlantic Treaty Organization — where an attack on one means an attack on all.
“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has caused Finland to review our security strategy,” Prime Minister Sanna Marin said at a joint press conference in Stockholm on April 13 hosted by Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson. “I won’t offer any kind of timetable as to when we will make our decision, but I think it will happen quite fast. Within weeks, not within months. The security landscape has completely changed.”
Finland, which shares an 830-mile border with Russia, is “highly likely” to join NATO despite the Russian government’s threats to deploy nuclear weapons, Finnish Minister for European Affairs Tytti Tuppurainen said in an interview with Sky News Friday.
“The people of Finland, they seem to have already made up their mind,” Tuppurainen told Sky News, noting that polls show overwhelming support for joining NATO.
The Finnish government is expected to submit a report to parliament on the changed security environment by the end of this month, kicking off a debate and eventually a recommendation on applying for NATO membership, according to Axios.
Meanwhile, Sweden has decided to examine a range of security-related options, including deepening Nordic defense cooperation and urging the European Union to develop enhanced defense policies to offer greater military protection to EU member states that border the highly sensitive Baltic Sea and High North regions, Defense News reports.
The Swedish government is expected to deliver its National Security Report to the Riksdag, the country’s legislature, before May 31.
“What we need to do is to carefully think through what is in the best long-term interests of Sweden, and what we need to do to guarantee our national security, our sovereignty and secure peace in this new heightened tension and situation,” said Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson.
“Russia’s invasion has dramatically changed the political discourse in Sweden and Finland and also crucially public opinion,” Alistair Shepherd, senior lecturer for European security at Aberystwyth University, told Al Jazeera.
There are indications both Finland and Sweden are heading towards a genuinely historic change of course in their respective security policies. During the Cold War, Sweden and Finland were essentially considered neutral states, although for different reasons.
“Sweden’s neutrality was much more part of their national identity, whereas Finland’s neutrality was more pragmatic and virtually forced upon them by the Agreement of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance signed between Finland and the USSR in 1948,” said Shepherd.
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Moscow Reacts with Threats
The threat came just a day after Finnish officials suggested their country could request to join NATO within weeks, while Sweden mulled making a similar move.
Dmitry Medvedev, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin who serves as deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, said that NATO expansion would lead Moscow to strengthen air, land and naval forces to “balance” military capability in the region.
“If Sweden and Finland join NATO, the length of the land borders of the alliance with the Russian Federation will more than double. Naturally, these boundaries will have to be strengthened,” he wrote on Telegram. “There can be no more talk of any nuclear-free status for the Baltic — the balance must be restored,” Medvedev added.
Even before his invasion of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Sweden and Finland of “retaliation” should they join NATO.
The New York Times notes that “if his invasion of Ukraine has succeeded at anything so far, it has been to drive the militarily nonaligned Nordic countries into the arms of NATO, as Russian threats and aggression heighten security concerns and force them to choose sides.
Finland and Sweden’s shift to NATO membership “would be another example of the counterproductive results of Mr. Putin’s war. Instead of crushing Ukrainian nationalism, he has enhanced it. Instead of weakening the trans-Atlantic alliance, he has solidified it. Instead of dividing NATO and blocking its growth, he has united it,” the Times observed April 13.
More that 1,600 Swedish troops and civilian personnel participated in Exercise Cold Response 2022, Norway’s multi-national Arctic military training exercise. (Swedish Armed Forces photo by Mats Carlsson/Försvarsmakten)
ARCTIC NATION: Air Force/Space Force Arctic Strategy; Navy Exercises; New Icebreakers for Coast Guard; Siberian Heat Wave
Defense and Homeland Security News.
U.S. Air Force/Space Force Arctic Strategy.
Two F-35A Lightning II aircraft fly over the Alaska Highway on April 21, 2020. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Technical Sergent Adam Keele)
The U.S. Air Force and the new U.S. Space Force rolled out their combined Arctic Strategy on July 21. The Arctic sits at the intersection between the U.S. homeland and two critical theaters, Indo-Pacific and Europe, making it an increasingly vital region for U.S. national security interests.
“The Arctic’s increasing strategic importance, coupled with the Services’ significant regional investment, requires the Department [of the Air Force] to have a unified, deliberate and forward-looking approach, ensuring the Air and Space Forces can compete and defend the nation’s interests in the Arctic region,” the strategy’s 14-page summary noted.
The strategy outlines four coordinated lines of effort that Air and Space Forces will use to enhance vigilance, reach and power to the nation’s whole-of-government approach in the Arctic region:
• Vigilance in all domains
• Projecting power through a combat-credible force
• Cooperation with allies and partners
• Preparation for Arctic operations
In the Arctic, U.S. Air and Space Forces are responsible for the majority of Department of Defense missions in the region, including the regional architecture for detecting, tracking, and engaging air and missile threats. Space Professionals in the region are responsible for critical nodes of the satellite control network that deliver space capabilities to joint and coalition partners, as well as the U.S. national command authority.
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U.S. Destroyer in Arctic Exercises.
The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Roosevelt (DDG 80) completed a passing exercise — also known as a PASSEX — with Norwegian navy ship off the coast of Tromso, Norway on July 15, 2020. Passing exercises are done between the ships of different navies to ensure they are able to communicate and cooperate in emergencies — whether war or humanitarian relief.
Norway, Sweden (CIA World Factbook via University of Texas Libraries)
The Roosevelt (not to be confused with the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt) and the Norwegian ship HNoMS Gnist (P979) conducted the exercise in the waters of the Norwegian Sea.
Forward-deployed to Rota, Spain, the Roosevelt is conducting naval operations in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations which includes the waters of Europe and West Africa.
Earlier in July, the Roosevelt participated in an anti-submarine warfare exercise, Dynamic Mongoose 2020, with a number of NATO Allies off the coast of Iceland. Naval forces from Canada, France, Germany, Iceland, Norway and the United Kingdom, as well as the United States participated in the exercise led by NATO Allied Maritime Command. Other U.S. Navy participants included Virginia-class fast-attack submarine USS Indiana (SSN 789), and two P-8A Poseidon Maritime Patrol Aircraft based out of Naval Air Station Sigonella, Italy.
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Polar Security Cutter.
President Donald Trump has ordered a review of the U.S. Coast Guard’s icebreaking polar security cutter (PSC) program, Seapower magazine reports. The order seeks to focus on exploring options for including nuclear power and heavy armament — and leasing icebreakers in a stopgap measure.
In a June 9 White House memorandum to several federal departments — “Safeguarding U.S. National Interests in the Arctic and Antarctic Regions” — Trump ordered a review of requirements of the acquisition program for a suitable fleet of polar security icebreakers “capable of ensuring a persistent United States presence in the Arctic and Antarctic regions in support of national interests and in furtherance of the National Security Strategy and the National Defense Strategy, as appropriate.”
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Environment and Climate News.
Siberian Heatwave.
A heat wave continues in Russia’s Arctic, causing wildfires in Siberia. It’s also causing Arctic sea ice to melt at an alarming rate.
Sea ice loss accelerated in early- to mid-July, bringing sea ice extent — which measures the area of ocean where there’s some ice cover, down to record-low levels for this time of the year, the Washington Post reported. Using data from the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, the Post said as of July 18, the Arctic as a region had an ice extent that was about 193,000 square miles below the previous record low for the date,
According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) in Boulder, Colorado — which tracks ice trends and climate change — the record-low ice extent is in part the result of the Siberian heat streak that has lasted from January through June, and into July.
Arctic Region (CIA World Fact Book map)
What’s the Cause?
A recent study concluded that the unusual warmth in Siberia could not have happened in the absence of human-caused global warming, the Post reported.
The study found that six straight months of anomalously mild conditions in large parts of northern Siberia so far this year — along with an Arctic temperature record of 100.4 degrees (38 Celsius) that occurred in June — would have been virtually impossible without human-induced global warming.
The study, released July 15 by the World Weather Attribution project, was produced through a collaboration between climate researchers from multiple institutions in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Russia, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
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ARCTIC NATION is an occasional 4GWAR posting on the Far North. The U.S. “National Strategy for the Arctic Region” describes the United States as “an Arctic Nation with broad and fundamental interests” in the region. “Those interests include national security needs, protecting the environment, responsibly managing resources, considering the needs of indigenous communities, support for scientific research, and strengthening international cooperation on a wide range of issues.”
ARCTIC NATION: Norway Exercise; Corona Virus; ICEX 2020; Arctic Readiness
Cold Response 2020
For the sixth time in 14 years, thousands of troops from the United States, NATO countries and Finland headed to northern Norway in early March for a massive joint exercise, Cold Response.
Between 15,000 and 16,000 service members from the United States, Norway, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Belgium, Denmark, Finland and Sweden are expected to participate in Cold Response 2020, said Norwegian Rear Admiral Sverre Engeness.
Marines fire an M41A7 Saber missile system in preparation for Exercise Cold Response 20 near Setermoen, Norway, March 3, 2020. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sergeant Devin J. Andrews)
The main aim of the exercise is to secure the Norwegian Armed Forces and allies’ ability to conduct multinational joint exercises with a high-intensity combat scenario in demanding winter conditions.
The Cold Response 2020 exercise was to take place in an area of northern Norway that stretches from the town of Narvik to the Finnmark district. The main part of the exercise will be located in the district of Troms.
Cold Response is led by the Norwegian Joint Headquarters and has been conducted biennially since 2006 – with the exception of 2018.
Exercise Cold Response 2020 was slated to run from March 2 to March 28. The exercise was planned to take place primarily in the north of Norway, near Tromso. (Photo by Norwegian Ministry of Defense)
The exercise had only proceeded for two day days when something unexpected came up — the novel coronavirus, Covid-19.
The Norwegian military quarantined 1,300 personnel on a base in the northern part of the country after a case of coronavirus was confirmed among them. No one will be allowed in or out of the Skjold base in the Troms region after one person tested positive for the virus on Thursday, the Norwegian Armed Forces said in a statement. The infected person doesn’t have serious symptoms, Bloomberg News reported, March 6.
Then Stars and Stripes reported almost two dozen U.S. soldiers in Norway were in quarantine isolation after possibly encountering a Norwegian service member who tested positive for the coronavirus.
The Norwegian service member and the 23 soldiers were training at Skjold Garrison in the Troms region of Norway, the Marine Corps said in a statement. The soldiers, with the 500th Engineer Support Company, 15th Engineer Battalion, based in Grafenwoehr, Germany, have not shown any signs or symptoms of the virus and were put in isolation “as a precautionary measure,” the Marine Corps said.
Then on March 11 Norwegian Armed Forces decided to end the exercise “due to the ongoing coronavirus situation in Norway. The decision has been made in close cooperation with Norwegian civilian health authorities.”
Lieutenant General Rune Jakobsen, chief of the Norwegian Joint Headquarters, said that “By ending the exercise now, we will also avoid any unnecessary burden to the civilian health care system, for example with illness among soldiers, accidents or corona testing among personnel.”
Arctic Subs Exercise.
The Seawolf-class fast-attack submarine USS Connecticut (SSN 22) surfaces in the Beaufort Sea within the Arctic Circle during Ice Exercise (ICEX) 2020. (U.S. Navy photo by Mike Demello)
Two submarines, 100 participants from five nations have pitched a temporary camp on an ice sheet in the frozen Beaufort Sea for a three-week Arctic exercise near the top of the world.
Ice Exercise (ICEX) 2020 is a biennial gathering that helps the U.S. Navy assess its operational readiness in the harsh Arctic environment. It’s also an opportunity to train with other services, partner nations and allies to maintain regional stability while improving capabilities to operate in the Arctic, according to the U.S. Navy.
USS Connecticut crew members take in their surroundings after surfacing in the Arctic Circle on March 7, 2020, during Ice Exercise (ICEX) 2020. (U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Michael B. Zingaro)
The Seawolf-class fast-attack submarine USS Connecticut (SSN 22) based in Bremerton, Washington, and the Los Angeles-class fast attack submarine USS Toledo (SSN 769), based in Groton, Connecticut both surfaced by cracking through the ice. The subs were scheduled to make multiple Arctic transits, a North Pole surfacing and other training evolution during the exercise.
Staying at the temporary ice camp were personnel from Britain, Canada, Japan and Norway as well as the United States.
“The Arctic is a potential strategic corridor,” between the Indo-Pacific region, Europe and the U.S. homeland, says Vice Admiral Daryl Caudle, commander of U.S. Submarine Forces.
Russian Planes on ICE(X).
An overflight of the ICEX 2020 camp by Russian spy planes bore out the admiral’s observation about the Arctic’s strategic significance.
The head of U.S. Northern Command told a congressional hearing March 11 that two Russian reconnaissance aircraft were intercepted by U.S. and Canadian fighter jets two days earlier.
Partner nations flags fly over Ice Camp Seadragon during Ice Exercise (ICEX) 2020. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Michael B. Zingaro/Released)
Air Force General Terrence J. O’Shaughnessy told lawmakers that the planes were loitering around the U.S. submarine exercise. He said the Russian aircraft loitered about 2,500 feet above a camp with an F-22 and a Canadian F-18 on their wing, Military Times reported.
Arctic Readiness.
Unlike the South China Sea and other contested areas, the U.S. Navy does not have the capability to conduct freedom-of-the-seas operations in the icebound waters of the Arctic, a key Pentagon official acknowledged recently.
U.S. Coast Guard medium ice breaker Healy in 2011. ( (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Jonathan Lally)
With only one heavy and one medium icebreaker and no Navy ships with hulls hardened against ice, “We do have limitations in the Arctic right now,” James H. Anderson, assistant secretary of defense for strategy, plans and capabilities, told a congressional hearing on U.S. military readiness in the Arctic, according to the Seapower magazine website.
As we have reported previously here at 4GWAR, rising temperatures due to climate change are causing Arctic sea ice to melt, leading to rising sea levels. The dramatic sea ice decline is also opening sea lanes across a part of the world that has seldom seen heavy maritime traffic, according to the 2013 National Arctic Strategy. And that has focused the attention of governments and commercial interests across the globe on the promise of previously inaccessible riches at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean, including huge untapped deposits of petroleum, natural gas and minerals like zinc, iron and rare earths.
Russia, Norway, Canada and the United States all have boosted their military presence in the Arctic at a rate not seen since the Cold War. Last year, Russia completed a large new base at Alexandra Island in the Franz Josef Land archipelago, while reopening and refitting seven former Soviet bases within the Arctic Circle. Russia also has modernized its powerful Northern Fleet. In response, the U.S. has reconstituted the 2nd Fleet, adding the North Pole to that fleet’s area of responsibility. Last October, a U.S. aircraft carrier, the USS Harry S. Truman, entered Arctic waters for the first time since 1991.
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ARCTIC NATION is an occasional 4GWAR posting on the Far North. The U.S. “National Strategy for the Arctic Region” describes the United States as “an Arctic Nation with broad and fundamental interests” in the region. “Those interests include national security needs, protecting the environment, responsibly managing resources, considering the needs of indigenous communities, support for scientific research, and strengthening international cooperation on a wide range of issues.”
SHAKO: Happy Birthday USMC!
244 Years and Counting.
November 10 is the 244th anniversary of the creation of the United States Marine Corps. On that date in 1775, the Continental Congress passed a resolution to create two battalions of Marines. Capt. (later Major) Samuel Nichols — considered the Corps’ first commandant — advertised in and around Philadelphia for “a few good men” and signed them up at Tun Tavern on the Philadelphia waterfront.
Less than five months later they were at sea heading for the Bahamas and a raid on New Providence and Nassau Town to capture naval supplies from the British, including shells, shot and cannon — but not much-needed gunpowder.
New Providence Raid, March 1776, oil painting on canvas by V. Zveg, 1973. It depicts Continental Sailors and Marines landing on New Providence Island, Bahamas, on March 3, 1776, the Marines’ first combat operation. (Photo U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command.
Since then, the Marines have made numerous assaults from the sea at Vera Cruz, Mexico in 1847, Korea in 1871, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in 1898, several Caribbean and Central American nations during the so-called Banana Wars between 1914 and 1934, and the island hopping campaigns in the Pacific from Guadalcanal to Okinawa in 1942 through 1945, and Inchon, Korea in 1950.
In the snow of far-off Northern lands*
One of the Marines’ toughest battles was in the snow and below-freezing temperatures around North Korea’s Chosin Reservoir in late 1950. After swamps and jungles of Vietnam in the 1960s and 70s, and the deserts of Iraq and mountain valleys of Afghanistan since 2002, the Marines are training for winter warfare again — in the Arctic.
Marines move into a tactical position in Setermoen, Norway, on October 31, 2019, during Exercise Reindeer, a U.S.-Norwegian exercise focusing on cold weather training and interoperability. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sergeant Justin Toledo)
Since 2017, a small force of 330 U.S. Marines, based near the town of Vaernes on Norway’s midwest coast, have been rotating in and out of the country every six months. Now with the agreement of the Norwegian government, that rotational deployment has more than doubled in size.
Melting Arctic sea ice, caused by climate change, has touched off a race to establish commercial sea lanes across the top of the world as well as accessing untapped fishing stocks and vast underwater petroleum and mineral stores. Territorial disputes have also touched off a mini arms race in the polar region, with Russia, Norway, Canada and the United States all boosting their military presence at a rate not seen since the Cold War.
Birthday Traditions.
The Marine Corps Birthday has been a big deal with the Corps since 1921, when then-Commandant Major Gen. John LeJeune issued Marine Corps Order No. 47, Series 1921, summarizing the history, tradition and mission of the Marine Corps and directing that the order be read to every command on every subsequent November 10.
Since 1952, the Marine Corps has had another tradition: the cake cutting ceremony. The 20th USMC commandant, Gen. Lemuel C. Shepherd Jr., formalized the ceremony, stating the first piece of cake must be presented to the oldest Marine present, who passes it to the youngest Marine.
So where ever they may be serving, God bless the United States and success to the Marines, as their traditional toast goes.
*Line from the second stanza of the Marine Corps Hymn.
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SHAKO is an occasional 4GWAR posting on military history, traditions and culture. For the uninitiated, a shako is the tall, billed headgear worn by many armies from the Napoleonic era to about the time of the American Civil War. It remains a part of the dress or parade uniform of several military organizations like the corps of cadets at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, New York.
(U.S. Military Academy photo)
FRIDAY FOTO (October 18, 2019)
Arctic Puma.
(U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sergeant Justin Toledo)
A Marine launches an RQ-20 Puma unmanned aerial system (UAS), a tactical drone, in Setermoen, Norway, on October 10, 2019. Manufactured by California-based AeroVironment, the Puma is a battery-powered, hand launched, small reconnaissance and surveillance drone. It weighs a little over 13 pounds and can stay aloft for two-and-a- half hours.
The Marine is part of a rotating contingent of Leathernecks based in Norway.
With a long history of service in the Asia-Pacific region from the mid-20th Century until now, the Marine Corps is looking to the future and gearing up for operations in Arctic conditions. Since 2017, a small force of 330 U.S. Marines, based near the town of Vaernes on Norway’s midwest coast, have been rotating in and out of the country every six months. Now with the agreement of the Norwegian government, that rotational deployment has more than doubled in size. “In times of crisis and war Norway will rely on U.S. and other allied military reinforcements. This is at the core of Norwegian security policy and is further emphasized by our NATO-membership,” Norwegian Minister of Defence Frank Bakke-Jensen said in June.
Melting Arctic sea ice, caused by climate change, has touched off a race to establish commercial sea lanes across the top of the world as well as accessing untapped fishing stocks and vast underwater petroleum and mineral stores. Territorial disputes have also touched off a mini arms race in the polar region, with Russia, Norway, Canada and the United States all boosting their military presence at a rate not seen since the Cold War.
About 700 Marines took over the Corps’ mission in Norway on September 27, marking the latest troop rotation into a country where American forces have been focused on cold weather warfare tactics, according to the Stars and Stripes newspaper’s website.
Marines from the 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment are now operating out of Setermoen — which is much farther North, above the Arctic Circle — as well as Vaernes, where they will be training with NATO allies and other partners in the Nordic region. The unit replaced the 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, which had been deployed to Norway for the previous six months.
The 6th Marines are the sixth rotation to Norway. Known as the Marine Rotational Force-Europe, the unit’s headquarters is at Norway’s mountainous Setermoen Army base in the Troms region, which is closer to Russia’s Arctic territory on the Barents Sea.
That move hasn’t set well with Moscow, which has been beefing up its own Cold War-era bases and building new ones in the region — including a large base at Alexandra Island in the Franz Josef Land archipelago (see map below) about 160 miles east of Norway’s Svalbard island group.
In June the Russian Embassy in Norway warned of consequences. Russia argues Oslo’s decision is in violation of agreements Norway made when it joined NATO in 1949. Norway agreed not to base permanent foreign forces in the country unless threatened or attacked, according to Defense News. But rising Russian belligerence from the Baltics to the Black Sea — especially its 2014 annexation of Crimea and incursion into eastern Ukraine — has unsettled all the militaries in Scandanavia.
FRIDAY FOTO (February, 15, 2019)
That’s No Snowball.
- (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Corporal Nghia Tran)
A Marine launches an RQ-20B Puma unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in Setermoen, Norway, on February 11, 2019, during Exercise Snow Panzer with Norwegian troops.
Snow Panzer is a force-on-force exercise between Marine Rotational Force-Europe and the Norwegian Panzer Battalion of Brigade Nord.
The Marines have been doing a lot of cold weather training in recent months in Norway, Sweden and Iceland.
ARCTIC NATION: Giant NATO Exercise
Trident Juncture.
Before setting out for NATO’s Trident Juncture exercise in Norway, U.S. Marines took cold-weather training in Iceland in October. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Marine Corps Lance Corporal Menelik Collins)
Fifty thousand troops, 250 aircraft, 65 naval vessels and about 10,000 ground vehicles have converged on Norway — and nearby waters — for Trident Juncture 2018, the largest military exercise by western nations since the end of the Cold War.
Military and civilian personnel from the 29 member countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and two Nordic neighbors, Sweden and Finland, are taking part in the enormous war game, which started October 25 and runs through November 7.
One of the largest contingents, after the Norwegian hosts, comes from the United States, which has sent some 14,000 personnel — including 6,000 sailors from the USS Harry S Truman Carrier Strike Group and more than 1,000 Marines from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit. The Truman was the first U.S. aircraft carrier to enter Arctic waters since 1991.
Marines travel to the next objective during Trident Juncture 18 near Hjerkinn Norway, November 2, 2018. (U.S. Marine Corps Lance Corporal Menelik Collins)
Other troops and weapons platforms included:
Eight Finnish Air Force F/A-18 Hornet fighter attack jets; Sweden’s 191st Mechanized Battalion; a joint Swedish-Finnish army battalion; the Spanish Navy frigate ESPS Cristobal Colon; the Dutch Navy frigate HNMLS De Ruyter, and four British Hawk light multirole fighters, four Royal Navy minehunters –HMS Cattistock, HMS Enterprise, HMS Grimsby and HMS Ramsey and two Type-23 frigates – HMS Westminster and HMS Northumberland.
NATO officials stressed Trident Juncture was a defensive exercise. “It is not directed against any country,” said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, adding “We are transparent in what we do. And we welcome the international observers — from Russia and many other countries.”
However, Stoltenberg noted : “We exercise to strengthen our ability to operate together, to test and certify the NATO Response Force, and to send a clear message.” While he didn’t specify what that message was, it was obvious to most observers the message was aimed at the increasingly aggressive Russian government.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (above) speaks with Canadian troops at exercise Trident Juncture 2018 while Norwegian Defense Minister Frank Bakke-Jensen (light blue jacket) listens. (Norwegian Armed Forces/Forsvaret photo by Torbjorn Kjosvold)
4GWAR has previously reported, Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula in 2014 and its hybrid warfare campaign in support of pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, has alarmed Western nations — especially those bordering the Baltic Sea like Poland, Estonia, Sweden and Finland.
But Moscow has complained about what it sees as NATO provocation by holding a massive military exercise on its doorstep. It sent it’s own message by sending a low-flying Tupolev TU-142, a Cold War era plane, over the Norwegian exercise.
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ARCTIC NATION is an occasional 4GWAR posting on the Far North. The U.S. “National Strategy for the Arctic Region” describes the United States as “an Arctic Nation with broad and fundamental interests” in the region. “Those interests include national security needs, protecting the environment, responsibly managing resources, considering the needs of indigenous communities, support for scientific research, and strengthening international cooperation on a wide range of issues.”
FRIDAY FOTO (November 2, 2018)
‘neath Arctic Skies.
(U.S. Navy photo by Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Kevin Leitner)
The amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7), passes under the Northern Lights during exercise Trident Juncture 2018 in the Norwegian Sea, October 26, 2018.
Some 250 aircraft, 65 vessels and up to 10,000 vehicles — as well as an estimated 50,000 troops from 31 countries — are taking part in the biggest NATO exercise since the Cold War.
The massive exercise is taking place through November 7 in central and eastern Norway, the surrounding areas of the North Atlantic and the Baltic Sea — including Iceland and the airspace of Finland and Sweden (two non-NATO members).
NATO officials say the goal of the operation is to ensure that NATO forces are trained, able to operate together, and ready to respond to any threat from any direction. While they deny the exercise is aimed at sending a message to an increasingly belligerent Russia, Moscow sees it differently.
“Even if NATO says otherwise,, Trident Juncture is really preparation for large-scale armed conflict in regions bordering the Russian Federation,” Lieutenant General Valery Zaparenko, former deputy chief of the Russian general staff, told RT, Moscow’s government-funded television station, the New York Times reported.
4GWAR’s Arctic Nation series will focus on Trident Juncture and other arctic news this weekend.
FRIDAY FOTO (May 18, 2018)
Marines in Norway.
(U.S. Marine Corps photo by Corporal Miguel A. Rosales)
U.S. Marines and Norwegian Costal Ranger Commandos (KJK) conduct water casting training aboard a CB90-class fast assault craft during Exercise Platinum Ren at Fort Trondennes, Harstad, Norway, on May 14, 2018.To see the Swedish designed CB90 put through its pages by the Brazilian navy, click here.
Water casting is the technique of casting off troops from a low flying helicopter or fast-moving boat and then retrieving them from the water when the job is done.
Here’s another video showing the work of the KJK, also known as the Kystjegerkommandoen.
The Platinum Ren exercise with KJKs is a security cooperation training event aimed at strengthening coalition partnerships and sustaining mission-essential tasks in a harsh operating environment.
The Marines in the photo are with the 1st Platoon, 1st Reconnaissance Battalion of the 1st Marine Division.
BALTIC to BLACK: From the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea, Russia’s Neighbors Are Nervous
Sweden to Resume Draft.
(A Swedish amphibious assault vehicle participating in NATO exercise BALTOPS 2015.)
Concerned about Russia’s aggressive actions in the Baltic region, and mounting uncertainty over Europe’s alliance with the United States, Swedish authorities have announced mandatory military service will return for men and women next year.
Sweden, which abolished the draft in 2010, plans to conscript 4,000 men and women in 2018, according to the New York Times. Unlike most of its neighbors in the region (Norway, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) Sweden is neutral and not a member of NATO.
With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Baltics became a region of stability. But all that changed with Russia’s annexation of Crimea three years ago and the Russian support for the insurgency in Ukraine, the Times said. Swedish military spending last year was up 11 percent.
“The Russian illegal annexation of Crimea, the conflict in Ukraine and the increased military activity in our neighborhood are some of the reasons,” Marinette Nyh Radebosaid, a Swedish defense ministry spokesperson, told the BBC.
(Map courtesy of NATO Review.)
In recent years, Baltic and Nordic nations have been rattled by Russia’s antagonistic behavior. There have been numerous reports of Russia probing Nordic defenses, from an underwater vehicle entering Swedish waters to Russian bomber flights violating Swedish and Finnish airspace. Estonia was hit by a massive cyber attack, believed to be Russian in origin, in 2007.
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Norway Boosts Defense Budget.
Last year, Norway announced a 1.9 billion krone ($230 million) increase in defense spending for 2017, bringing the country’s total military spending to 50.9 billion krone. More than 12 billion of that amount was to go to procurement, IHS Jane’s reported last October.
The increase, part of Norway’s Long Term Defence Plan, drew criticism from opposition lawmakers who didn’t like where the money would come from — the Government Pension Fund. But according to Defense News, cross-party support for the boost in defense spending was fueled by two concerns: keeping pace with Russia’s military buildup in the High North (above the Arctic Circle) and whether the Trump White House might weaken U.S. spending on maintaining European security.
The Norwegian Defense Ministry wants to buy more F-35 strike fighters, three helicopter-equipped Coast Guard vessels and CV-90 combat armored vehicles, as well as armored reconnaissance systems and artillery equipment. Longer term acquisition plans would seek a new air defense system and multi-role drones.
“Given all that is happening in the region, Norway needs to have the strongest defense that it can afford,” Bård Vegard Solhjell, a Socialist Left Party member of parliament told Defense News last month.
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U.S. Troops in Romania.
Meanwhile, the United States military is training with NATO militaries and partner nations in and around the Black Sea.
(A U.S. Marine, center, watches Ukrainian soldiers in action during Exercise Platinum Eagle at Smardan Training Area, Romania, on February 24, 2017. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Corporal Sean J. Berry.)
The latest operation: Soldiers, tanks and M88 recovery vehicles from the 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment’s “Fighting Eagles” recently arrived in Romania in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve. The soldiers and equipment traveled more than 1,100 miles from western Poland, where the battalion and the rest of the 3,500 soldiers of the 4th Infantry Division’s 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team (ABCT), deployed to Europe, initially assembled.
Participating in Atlantic Resolve means the 3rd ABCT will conduct bilateral and multinational training with allies in eight different countries, according to the Army. The emphasis will be increasing interoperability with Romanian and Bulgarian land forces over the next six months.
The 3rd ABCT began arriving in Europe from Fort Carson, Colorado in January. The 3rd ABCT is bringing approximately 3,500 personnel and 87 tanks, 18 Paladin self-propelled guns; 419 humvee variants; 144 Bradley Fighting Vehicles; (446 tracked vehicles, 907 wheeled vehicles, 650 trailers).
Major Royce Baker, chief of fires with the 4th Infantry Division Mission Command Element, meets Colonel Catalin Ticulescu, commander of the Romanian NATO Force Integration Unit, during a Multinational Division-South East Command staff exchange. (Photo by Army Staff Sergeant Diandra J. Harrell)
In February 2017 units began distributing across region with to Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Germany and several Baltic nations.
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