More than 20 warships, 35 aircraft and eight onshore units take part as 13 NATO Allied and partner nations on May 8 kicks off Formidable Shield, an exercise inside the Arctic Circle training air and missile defense.
Russian long-range cruise missiles pose a big threat to Norway’s military infrastructure in the north.
Last week, a government-appointed expert defense commission delivered its report, addressing the vulnerability against missiles in a scenario where Russia would activate its bastion defense to protect the ballistic missile submarines sailing out from the Kola Peninsula. The Commission had one clear message: The security environment for Norway is “extremely challenging” and it was therefore proposed “a significant increase in defence spending.”
Protecting the Norwegian Sea is what to be trained as the trans-Atlantic allies now sail north to the waters outside Andøya. A series of live-fire events against subsonic, supersonic and ballistic targets will take place. It is this kind of cruise missiles the Russian navy and air forces have launched on several training occasions in the Barents- and White Sea regions in recent years.[…]
Meanwhile, seven Russian navy ships are currently in the North Sea area and the Norwegian Armed Forces say it “expects increased Russian activity in our maritime areas in the next weeks.” The warships include the destroyer “Vice Admiral Kulakov”, four corvettes, the tanker “Kama” and the frigate “Admiral Grigorovich”. Earlier this week, Tu-142 maritime surveillance aircraft flew missions south to the North Sea from an air base on the Kola Peninsula. Läs artikel