The Exercise Pohjoinen 17 will end in Rovajärvi
On Thursday, a firing exercise of the Finnish Army, Pohjoinen 17, will end with closing support firing in Rovajärvi.
The two-week exercise has involved the concentration of the participating troops in the area, implementation of artillery and infantry firing in detachments, measurement of training level as well as demanding firing carried out in major units over the course of this week.
As regards the measurement of sustained training level, the focus was on assessing the skills of firing units in providing support fire, firing accuracy and control of concentrated fire. Commander of Exercise, Colonel Asko Muhonen is pleased with the troops’ performance.
- From the start of the exercise, everything has advanced with flying colors and this has been a pleasure to notice. Understandably, there are discernible differences between the units’ training levels depending on the given number of training days and exercises attended. However, as a whole, these units’ performance has been of good quality, and, in particular, this applies to the motivation, effort and coping of conscripts in these rather demanding conditions of Rovajärvi. Furthermore, in-safety standards have also been upheld very well.
Training close Nordic cooperation
In conjunction of this exercise and as part of Nordic NORDEFCO cooperation between Finland, Sweden and Norway, the NORTHER17 Exercise convened the artilleries of the participating countries’ Armies to train methods for use of support fires in the exercise frame.
- This exercise has proceeded as planned. The coordinating of these international units panned out well and the units have sustained fluent operating throughout the exercise. In addition, the measures for in-service safety have been successful in that the safety procedures of the Swedish fire unit have been at a specifically advanced level. Obviously, there is still room for improvement, but, considering that this is the first exercise implemented of this particular kind, we exceeded the prior expectations, explains Lieutenant Colonel Petri Majuri who led the NORTHER17 Exercise.
The Swedish troops that participated in this exercise are more than pleased with the well planned, organised and executed exercise as well as the type of support offered.
- We have conducted fires with the Archer System in another country for the first time successfully. We have fired with Norwegian, Finnish and Swedish FO-teams and have been able to track almost all fires during this exercise with our weapon locating radars. The Finland-Sweden (FISE) cooperation under the NORDEFCO umbrella is very important for us and we are glad that everything so fas has gone better than expected in every part, says Lieutenant Colonel Stefan Hansson and wishes that learning from each other and deepening the cooperation will continue.
Also the Norwegian artillery unit is satisfied with NORTHERN17 Exercise.
- During the exercise we all sheared our knowledge, experience and challenges and we got good training experience for all our personnel. We especially appreciate the opportunity to both direct and locate different types of artillery in larger volume. We really appreciate the support that both Swedish and Finnish logistics and maintenance units have given us. We are looking forward to continue with close cooperation between the Nordic countries, summarizes captain Hans Vidar Dahl from the Norwegian troops.
End of Exercise may affect traffic
On Thursday, the exercise troops’ motorised marches start in Rovajärvi to continue until Friday. This may bring about occasional congestion and affect traffic especially in the vicinity of Rovajärvi in the direction of south.
The motorised detachments’ march advances with a speed of 80 km/h on roads 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 13, 15, 21, 22, 63, 67, 78, 79 and 86 from 23 to 24 November 2017.
Altogether 4 400 soldiers and 1 200 vehicles participated in the Exercise Pohjoinen 17 that was organised in the exercise area of Rovajärvi from 13 to 24 November 2017.
