Strong air defence is a joint capability involving cooperation of all services

Air Defence Exercise Mallet Strike 1/26, conducted in the Lohtaja firing range and training area, has ended.

The exercise had approximately 1,900 participants from the Army, Navy and Air Force, the Border Guard and Norway. The Army, Navy and Air Force have joint air defence exercises regularly twice a year. Allied forces’ capabilities complement the Defence Forces’ air defence.

The exercise has shown once again how important it is as our conscripts’ main ground-based air defence exercise. The exercise included successful live firings using anti-aircraft guns and surface-to-air missiles. Counter-UAS using force protection equipment was introduced as a new element. The varying and challenging target activity in the combat phase provided the training audience with a unique training environment. Cooperation between the Army, Navy and Air Force units is smooth, as the exercise once again indicated. And having participants from our Ally, this time from Norway, is always very rewarding to all parties. As a whole, the exercise was very successful and the units returned to their home garrisons with much more experience, says the Exercise Director, Inspector of Ground-based Air Defence, Colonel Mano-Mikael Nokelainen.

We have been participating in the live firing excercise and the live exercise. It has been great to be able to shoot our missiles in your country and at your shooting range. We achieved all of our goals for the missile shooting, and it was succesful due to good cooperation with officers from the Finnish Army. Regarding the live excercise we experienced a lot of realistic air threats, thanks to the finnish air force and in cooperation with the finnish army. We were able to train our soldiers in engaging the enemy in a quick, effective and forceful manner. We are very grateful for this experience and the excercise arena that the Finnish army has provided for us. We are now stronger as NATO allies, and neighbours, after working together in Mallet Strike, says Lieutenant Brede Brandskognes, Platoon Commander of Ranger battalion, Brigade Finnmark.

Air Defence Exercise Mallet Strike 2/26 will be organised in the Lohtaja firing range and training area in November. The exercises and location of the training area provide an excellent opportunity for rehearsing ground-based air defence as a part of air defence - after all, it is the most important exercise of the ground-based air defence units. We wish our Allies welcome to the autumn exercise as well, offering them an opportunity to train collective air defence with us.