ROVANIEMI, Finland - During Arctic Challenge Exercise 2017 hosted by Finland this year eleven Partners and Allies train together and hone their planning experience and flying skills until June 2 in northern Scandinavia.

 

The unique cross-border airspace of Finland, Sweden and Norway provides exceptional training ground for increasing interoperability and cooperation.

 

Arctic Challenge Exercise was first held in 2013 as a cooperation of Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian air forces involving some 90 aircraft from five nations. In 2015, nine countries and almost 100 aircraft participated, This year, with ACE17 organised by the Finnish Air Force eleven countries participate with more than 100 military aircraft.

This increasing interest in joining the Nordic countries' live-fly exercise is due also to excellent flying conditions, complex flight training and large-scale air operations. The extremely huge airspace is exploited by Partner and Allied participants this year flying their planes out of the main bases at Rovaniemi, Finland, Bodø, Norway and Luleå, Sweden. These are the northernmost fighter air base in Europe in close proximity to the arctic circle. Another advantage of this challenging environment is the fact that there is little civilian air traffic to take into account allowing for almost unlimited training sorties.

 

Story by Allied Air Command Public Affairs Office based on information provided by the Finnish Air Force