France is involved in its exercises.
AFP
The detonations of cannons and rockets echo across the snowy, hilly landscape of Lapland. Up to 3,600 troops from the United States, Sweden, the United Kingdom, France and other NATO countries are taking part in live-fire exercises here throughout the month.
“Capable of defending its members”
This is part of “Dynamic Front 25”, the largest Alliance artillery exercise ever organized in Europe, with firing exercises in Finland as well as Estonia, Germany and Poland . A total of 5,000 soldiers from Alliance members were mobilized.
“These NATO training sessions are increasingly intended to show other countries, especially Russia, that the Alliance is united and capable of defending its members,” Joel Linnainmaki, a researcher, told AFP. at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs.
The Nordic country, which shares a 1,340-kilometre-long border with Russia, abandoned decades of military non-alignment and joined NATO following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The move sparked anger from Moscow, which sees the increase in the Alliance’s presence near its borders as a provocation and a threat to its security.
280,000 additional soldiers
“Of course it sends the message that we are able to train together, that we are developing our means,” he told reporters. For Colonel Janne Makitalo, pilot of the exercise in Finland, “artillery is the centerpiece of the battlefield, as the experience of combat in Ukraine has shown us.”
Does he not see a risk of provoking the adversary by deploying NATO’s military power in Russia’s backyard? No, he brushes off. “This is not any show of force,” he says.
Regardless, Finland’s membership in NATO added “280,000 troops” to the Alliance’s northern flank. In Rovajarvi, the troops took up positions, ready to fire, in a desolate landscape covered in a thin layer of snow and ice.
“Write History”
This firing range and training area of more than 1,000 square kilometers is the largest in Europe, attracting allies wishing to train in difficult conditions. “It is a unique training location, because it is one of the rare places” where a real war situation can be simulated, underlines Lieutenant Antti-Matti Puisto, head of the shooting section of the Finnish Karelian Brigade.
With temperatures typically falling to -20°C in winter, the Finnish armed forces are known to be well trained and equipped to deal with extreme cold. Captain Romain, commander of the Écrins Battery of the 93rd mountain artillery regiment, agrees. “The objective is to put into practice our skills as artillerymen and mountaineers, working in a very cold environment,” he confirms.
The brigade of conscript and sergeant Olli Myllymaki has just completed a series of shooting exercises using K9 tanks in a snowy forest. “We are in the process of writing history,” he believes.
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(afp/rk)
