Finnish Army exercises inter-agency readiness

Led by the Army, the exercises are part of Finland’s wider defense effort aimed at tackling all sorts of troubles that could emerge across the country in times of crisis.

Altogether six local defence exercises will take place all over Finland until mid-March, with Lapland region starting this Saturday.

“We exercise cooperation, information exchange, as well as command, control and communications between authorities to ensure seamless cooperation in all situations. We make full use of the lessons identified in the exercises relating to cooperation development,” Army Brigadier General Tero Ylitalo says.

Participating agencies in Lapland are the Police, Border Guards, Hospital, Coast Guard, Customs, Finavia, Rescue Department, Tornio City and others like the industrial company Outokumpu.

The local defence exercises will be recognisable in inhabited built-up areas with a high number of military vehicles on the move. Some of the exercises will involve flight operation activity, the Finnish Army informs.

Apart from enabling the use of the Army operational forces, the local defence units’ capability also safeguards mobilisation of other units, protects society’s vital functions, and prevents disruptions from spreading further.

“In local defence exercises, active reservists with solid knowledge of their own area of operation get to exercise their set missions with other units, and do so comprehensively and progressively,” General Ylitalo states. 

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A total of about 3,800 personnel from the Finnish Defence Forces will participate in the exercises that end a week before Finland together with Sweden join the larger Norwegian-led NATO exercise Cold Response in mid-March. 

Like Norway, Finland’s northernmost region Lapland shares border to Russia’s heavily militarized Kola Peninsula. The Nordic countries have in recent years been strengthening their capability to do joint operations in peacetime, crisis and war.