Troops from NATO Allies and partners are taking part in a series of long-planned major military exercises stretching from the High North to the Mediterranean to enhance the readiness of NATO forces.
In March, 20,000 NATO troops, plus Finland and Sweden, train to defend Norway in exercises ‘Joint Viking’ and ‘Joint Warrior’, the largest drills in Europe’s Arctic this year.
🇳🇴🇬🇧🇺🇸 troops during the largest exercises in Europe’s Arctic this year
This month 20,000 #NATO troops, plus Finland and Sweden, are training to defend Norway⁰⁰ #JointViking23 | #JointWarrior pic.twitter.com/O6aM5xJYYf
— NATO (@NATO) March 15, 2023
In the Mediterranean, ships, submarines and aircraft from nine NATO Allies conducted anti-submarine warfare drills during exercise ‘Dynamic Manta’.
France is holding its largest military drill in decades as part of ‘Orion 23’, involving 19,000 Allied troops over three months. Around 600 German troops are practicing defending Lithuania during ‘Griffin Lightning’.
Flying out of Spain, US B-52 bombers hold joint drills with Allied air forces across Europe.
NATO Spokesperson Oana Lungescu said, “these are long-planned defensive exercises. In a more contested and dangerous security environment, they send a clear message: NATO stands strong and ready to defend every inch of Allied territory”.
In February, aircraft carriers from the United States, Italy and Spain trained together in the Mediterranean during the ‘Neptune series’ of naval drills.
U.S and French troops from NATO’s battlegroup in Romania tested the Alliance’s eastern flank defences, including with HIMARS firings, during ‘Eagle Royal 23’.
Operating from the US’s northernmost base, the US deployed F-35 fighter jets to Thule air base in Greenland for the first time ever in January as part of ‘Noble Defender’.
In Estonia, ‘Winter Camp’ saw the participation of 30 British Challenger 2 tanks and Leopard 2 tanks from Denmark train in winter conditions.
Today I saw simultanously 5 tankers over the North Sea on ADSB. This also seems to be an exercise. The numbers of “long planned” exercises is different from a few years ago. We know why.
Hopefully, they can refuel these as well!
“Poland is to send Ukraine four MiG-29 fighter jets in the coming days, it has been announced, with more to follow later.”
LINK
https://d3lcr32v2pp4l1.cloudfront.net/Pictures/1024×536/5/6/1/85561_polish-mig-29-bartosz-glowacki_79584.jpg
Short answer: Unlikely. At least the German Mig 29s lacked aerial refueling capacity and had to fly to the US with ferry tanks. I guess the Polish ones are not the old German ones which they inherited from Germany, because those would need German approval, but I guess the limitations are similar.
It was meant to be a bit tongue in cheek if you see what I mean! But the ball does at least appear to be rolling in the right direction. “West debating supply of jets to Ukraine, Denmark PM saysWe reported earlier that Poland will send Ukraine four MiG-29 fighter jets in the coming days (see post at 13.34). President Andrzej Duda said Warsaw would give Ukraine four Soviet-made fighter jets “within the next few days” and that the rest needed servicing and would be supplied later. Now, Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has said that Western nations are… Read more »
Now that Finland and Sweden are virtually NATO, is there a requirement for the UK to reinforce Norway?
Simple answer, yes. A bit of a longer answer, Norway is key to the defence of the North Atlantic and its trade routes. We can run ASW patrols much easier from Northern Norway than from the UK so it becomes the first line of defence. We can also run fighter interdiction patrols hindering long range Russian aircraft from entering the North Atlantic much better from Northen Norway than we can from Scotland. What Sweden and Finland bring to the table the the possibility of making the Baltic a NATO lake and a deep strike from Finland towards the White Sea… Read more »
I agree with most of that, the Royal Marines being dropped off is probably not required once Sweden and Finland get established.
There will always be a requirement for them, but not for that.