Finland hosts local defence exercise in March

The Guard Jaeger Regiment -led local defence exercise Kehä 24 will be held in Eastern Uusimaa from March 3 to March 8, said an official press release on Thursday.

The strength of the training audience will be up to 1,000 personnel comprising conscripts, reservists, and service personnel.

The exercise will be commanded by Deputy Commander of the Guard Jaeger Regiment, Colonel Vesa Laitonen.

From the Finnish Defence Forces the exercise will be participated alongside the Guard Jaeger by the Coastal Brigade, Karelia Brigade, 1. Logistics Regiment, and the Naval Academy.

The exercise will involve drilling local-level inter-agency co-operation with the view to develop mutual inter-agency operating capacities.

The participating authorities and co-operation partners will include Helsinki Police, Helsinki Rescue Department, Eastern Uusimaa Police Department, City of Helsinki, City of Porvoo, Port of Loviisa, Fortum, Helsinki Region Environmental Services, Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority, Gulf of Finland Coast Guard District and National Defence Training.

In Kehä 24 the participating agencies will jointly contain, for instance, a threat to an energy supplier as well as test the operators’ competences concerning a debris rescue mission and a task relating to water management.

The local defence exercise of the spring functions as a so-called closing battle for the conscripts serving 255 days in conscript service, military police trained for rank and file tasks, as well as for conscript leaders and rank and file of the reconnaissance company of the FDF Sports School who will muster out into the reserve in March.

In Kehä 24 the units’ operating activity will concentrate on the capital region. Exercise drilling will be conducted in Helsinki, Vantaa, Porvoo, Sipoo, Kerava, Tuusula, Järvenpää, and Loviisa.

The training audience troops will be wearing combat load including an assault rifle. Target detachments may also wear civilian clothing.

Service personnel will wear yellow high-visibility vests on their fatigues. The exercise will involve up to 200 vehicles, including armoured vehicles. In some of the exercise drill locations, blank drill ammunition will be used that may cause noise in the vicinity.

Kehä 24 is part of the continuum of local defence exercises. Held twice a year across Finland, the local defence exercises highlight developing the local forces’ operating capability and exercising joint operating in co-operation with authorities.