Pori Brigade trains local defence in Vaasa

From 7-11 March 2022, the Vaasa 22 local defence exercise led by Pori Brigade will assemble, in addition to Defence Forces personnel, conscripts and reservists, also authorities in the region of Ostrobothnia, personnel of the City of Vaasa as well as businesses and actors in the area.

A total of almost 900 persons will participate in this one-week exercise in the region of Vaasa. In addition to Pori Brigade, soldiers from Nyland Brigade, the Coastal Fleet, Air Force Academy, the 2nd Logistics Regiment and the Defence Forces C5 Agency will take part in the exercise.  Conscripts, totalling 430 in all, represent the largest number of participants. A good 300 reservists from the Ostrobothnia region and 130 Defence Forces regular personnel will take part in the exercise.  Some of the training units will move to the Vaasa area already during the weekend 5 - 6 March preceding the exercise.

– This local defence exercise is a good opportunity to train Defence Forces - inter-agency cooperation with local actors.  Training together will bring in capability to operate in disturbance situations in normal and emergency conditions and contribute to credible defence, says the director of the exercise, Deputy Commander of Pori Brigade, Colonel Riku Suikkanen.

During the exercise, military vehicles and armed soldiers will be seen in various parts of the city and its vicinity.  Any disturbance or harm to outsiders will be striven to be avoided. However, the exercise may cause momentary traffic stops. Dummy ammunition will be used in the exercise, and the noise hazard area involved will be cordoned off.  The exercise will also involve Air Force training air operations with Hawk fighter jets, which may cause flight noise.

Cooperation in safety

Next to local defence, multi-agency cooperation is another central theme of the exercise. The participants of the exercise include, among others, the Border Guard, Customs, Ostrobothnia Police Department, Ostrobothnia Rescue Department, the Regional State Administrative Agency for Western and Inland Finland, the Port of Vaasa, the City of Vaasa and businesses owned by it or operating in the area.

This is not the first time that Pori Brigade trains local defence in the region of Vaasa.  The previous local defence exercise was organised in Vaasa four years ago.

– it is easy to come to Vaasa for cooperation training.  The people in the region are highly motivated to defend the country.  The different parties have been actively involved starting from the planning of the exercise, the exercise director Colonel Suikkainen says.

The still prevailing Covid-19 pandemic has been taken into consideration in the planning of the exercise. By taking proactive measures to fight the coronavirus, we aim at taking care of the health of the conscripts, reservists and personnel involved in the exercise. 

Local security across Finland

The Vaasa 22 exercise is one of the six local defence exercises led by the Army.
You can follow the exercise on the Army and Pori Brigade social media channels under: #vaasa22, #vasa22, #paikallispuolustus and #porpr.

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