Finland Leads Alliance Exercises First Time As NATO Member

The Freezing Winds 23 naval exercise began in the Baltic Sea.

On November 20, naval exercises Freezing Winds 23 began in the Baltic Sea. They take place under the auspices of the Finnish Navy in the Gulf of Finland and the Archipelago Sea (the part of the Baltic Sea between the Gulf of Bothnia and the Gulf of Finland within Finnish territorial waters) and will last until December 1.

In addition to the Finnish armed forces (sea, land and air), the Swedish military, as well as ships of the first standing NATO Maritime Group One (SNMG1) and the first standing NATO Mine Countermeasures group, are participating in them Group 1 — SNMCMG1), which includes the fleets of Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and France. In total, 30 warships and more than 4 thousand people are participating in the exercises.

According to the Finnish Navy, the purpose of these exercises, taking place against the backdrop of the country's decision to close the checkpoint on the Russian-Finnish border, is to practice joint international operations off the Baltic Sea coast.

“Our main exercise this fall is the first that we will conduct as part of a major NATO exercise,” said the commander of the exercise, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Finnish Navy Juhapekka Rautava. “By training together, we will strengthen not only our military capabilities, but also our interoperability and our ability to work together.”

The participation of mine countermeasures ships in Freezing Winds 23, he also noted, indicates that NATO is paying special attention to the protection of underwater infrastructure.

The exercises will cover the western region of Uusimaa (the administrative center is Helsinki). Air maneuvers involving 16 aircraft will take place over southern Finland and the northern Baltic Sea, including American F/A-18 fighter-bombers and attack aircraft and the French Atlantique 2 long-range aircraft. Ground and border troops will also be involved.

This is not the first time Finland has conducted the Freezing Winds exercises — in November 2022, when the country had not yet joined NATO, they took place in the same area with the participation of 23 warships and 5 thousand military personnel. Their goal was to practice joint operations in late autumn weather conditions and train Finnish Navy personnel in cooperation with the forces of other countries. The SNMG1 and SNMCMG1 groups (ships from Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway) also took part in those maneuvers. An American Arleigh Burke-class destroyer and Swedish Navy corvettes were also involved. Thus, the current exercises differ from last year’s only in that Finland is now participating in them as a full member of NATO.