The British Armed Forces continue to strengthen interoperability with Finland and Sweden
British troops have participated in Exercise Vigilant Knife alongside the Swedish and Finnish defense forces, further strengthening our interoperability in anticipation of Sweden’s and Finland’s accession to NATO.
The short-term command exercise took place in Rovaniemi and Rovajärvi, northern Finland from 29 August to 2 September 2022 and built on the success of Exercise Vigilant Fox which took place in July.
Secretary of State for Defense Ben Wallace said:
Although there is war in Europe, it is more important than ever to strengthen our international partnerships. We welcome Finland’s and Sweden’s application to join NATO and will continue to train together so that we are ready to meet common security challenges.
Exercise Vigilant Knife is an invaluable opportunity for British personnel to develop their cold weather warfare skills and experience, enabling them to be effective on the battlefield alongside their Finnish and Swedish counterparts.
Around 80 British Army personnel from C Company, 2 Rifles Battlegroup took part in the exercise, traveling from the island of Santahamina in southern Finland where they are undertaking a 3-month training course as part of a UK-Finland security agreement.
The international force, which consists of more than 2,000 soldiers, practiced delivering and receiving international aid as well as improving tactical and technical interoperability.
As a light infantry company, British personnel provided anti-tank, sniping and reconnaissance capabilities to the exercise and were primarily involved in both offensive and defensive actions to test the readiness of the Finnish forces alongside the Swedish unit.
This added to the invaluable experience that British troops have already had while deployed in Finland. The operations in northern Finland entailed new challenges that made it possible for the troops to train in heavily wooded terrain.
Strengthening our forces through international exercises is crucial preparation should we need to deploy alongside our European partners in the future, enabling us to be effective on the battlefield.