ROVANIEMI, Finland - Flying operations of the multinational life-fly exercise Arctic Challenge Exercise 2017 (ACE17) have started today, May 22 in north eastern Europe. 

 

Organised by the Air Forces of Finland, Norway and Sweden ACE17 is a large-scale and realistic air exercise recognised at the international level that demonstrates the highly advanced cooperation among the air forces of the Nordic Countries as well as other NATO Allies. More than 100 military aircraft and thousands of personnel from the armed forces of eleven countries will train together until June 2 in airspace extending over Norway, Sweden and Finland. Flying operation will be carried out of the bases of Bodø, Luleå and Rovaniemi.

 

”Arctic Challenge Exercise 17 is a unique live air exercise because it has been planned and prepared as a joint effort between the three nations' air forces,” says Exercise Director Colonel Petteri Seppälä, Finnish Air Force. ”It is a real-life example of the excellent cooperation that Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian Air Forces have successfully increased during the last decade.”

 

The complex scenario and the flying programme provided in ACE is reflected in the major international interest among Allies and Partners. This in turn provides an interesting mix of air assets to the exercise: Belgian, British, Finnish, French, Norwegian, Swedish, Swiss and United States fighter aircraft, Canadian, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish transport aircraft as well as German and United States tanker aircraft and several support assets will all be conducting challenging flying operations. 

 

Military exercises are conducted to test and validate concepts, tactics, techniques and procedures. They enable participating nations to work together to identify "best practices" (what works) and "lessons learned" (what needs improving). The Partner-led exercise ACE17 involves several NATO Allies fostering and supporting interoperability, cooperation and readiness.