Army mechanized exercise Arrow 23 to start in Niinisalo

The Armoured Brigade will lead the Army mechanized exercise Arrow 23 at the Pohjankangas shooting and training area in Niinisalo from 1 to 14 May 2023. Of the total strength of ca. 2200 persons taking part in the exercise, more than one thousand are conscripts and about 850 international troops.

Units from the Armoured Brigade, Karelia Brigade, Kainuu Brigade, Jaeger Brigade, Army Academy, Utti Jaeger Brigade and establishments subordinate to the Defence Command will participate in the exercise. The exercise will also include flight operations of the Air Force and the Army. Approximately 1300 persons from the Army will participate in the exercise, including over 1000 conscripts. Some 200 Defence Forces vehicles will be involved in the exercise.
 
Units from the land forces of the United Kingdom, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and the United States will participate in the exercise. In total, the strength of the international troops will be about 850 persons and ca. 185 vehicles. The equipment of the international troops will include, among others, Warrior infantry fighting vehicles (United Kingdom), Pasi armoured personnel carriers (Latvia), M113 armoured personnel carriers (Lithuania), CV90 infantry fighting vehicles (Estonia) as well as Bradley infantry fighting vehicles and Abrams main battle tanks (United States).
 
The objective of exercise Arrow 23 is to enhance the operating of mechanized units in demanding combat situations. The exercise will be commanded by the Commander of the Armoured Brigade, Colonel Rainer Kuosmanen.
 
- The participation of NATO allies will create a multinational environment in the exercise in which we will get to test our combat technical interoperation capability and capabilities involving the reception of international assistance and provision of host nation support, says Colonel Kuosmanen.

The first exercise week involves a combat exercise and the second week mechanized troops’ live-fire exercises. The two-sided combat simulator system (KASI) will be used in the combat exercise, which will enable improving know-how progressively during the exercise. 
 
- The Finnish Army troops participating in the exercise are mainly conscripts. Finland’s fresh NATO membership is likely to bring a bit of a new sense of excitement to conscripts transferring to the reserve in the summer, too. As a matter of fact, Arrow 23 represents an excellent opportunity for the conscripts to train and compare their know-how with that of our Allies. In turn, the international troops will have an opportunity to ascertain the high quality produced by the Finnish conscription system, says Colonel Kuosmanen.   
 
In accordance with the Army Action Plan, the Army mechanized exercise is a national exercise organized twice a year that has been open for participation by international partner nations’ training audience detachments since 2014. Arrow 23 is part of the Defence Forces’ exercise activities approved by the Ministry of Defence for the year 2023. 
 
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More information: Army training and exercise activity this spring will develop capability for international interoperable operating - The Finnish Army (maavoimat.fi)