Arrow 24 to strengthen Alliance’s mechanized troops’ know-how

The Armoured Brigade will lead the Army mechanized exercise Arrow 24 at the Pohjankangas Firing Range and Training Area in Niinisalo from 26 April to 14 May, said Finnish army in a press release on Tuesday.

About 2600 persons will take part in the exercise, most of them conscripts and about 300 international troops.

Service personnel and conscripts from the Armoured Brigade, Karelia Brigade, Utti Jaeger Regiment, Jaeger Brigade, Pori Brigade, Army Academy, the Defence Forces C5 Agency and the 2nd Logistics Regiment will participate in the exercise.

The exercise will involve Army flight operations. Allied troops from the United Kingdom, Latvia and Estonia will also take part in the exercise.

The share of international troops of the total strength will be about 300 persons. The exercise will be commanded by the Commander of the Armoured Brigade Colonel Juhana Skyttä.

The aim of the exercise is to strengthen mechanized troops’ cooperation and interoperability with allied troops, and enhance the ability to receive international assistance and provide host nation support. Another objective is to develop the Defence Forces’ joint fires.

“Army mechanized exercises will provide training for mechanized troops and have them rehearse operations. These exercises will involve conscripts and personnel both on the individual and force level. The participation of the Allies will enhance interoperability between troops consisting of different nationalities and create an international operating environment for the exercise. At the same time, the exercise will serve as the most important live-fire exercise of the Finnish conscripts taking part in it,” Colonel Skyttä said.

In the exercise, the mechanized troops will train battle group offensive and delaying operations in particular. Operating requires the different branches to cooperate seamlessly.

“For training to be successful in a battalion-size framework, operation between different branches must be seamless both nationally and internationally. The operating of logistics and supporting units must be seamless. What is more, in all operations, the troops must be able to work in cooperation with air support, which is represented in this exercise by the British forces’ AH-64E Apache combat helicopter detachment,” Skyttä added.

The share of Finnish troops in the exercise will be about 2250 persons, including some 1850 conscripts. About 500 Defence Forces vehicles will be involved in the exercise, around 150 of them armoured vehicles.

The strength of the international troops will be around 300 personnel and 85 vehicles.

The United Kingdom will participate in the exercise with an approximately 200 personnel strong training audience with AH-64E Apache combat helicopters, AW159 Wildcat multi-role helicopters and CH-47 Chinook transport helicopters as their main equipment.

With Scimitar infantry fighting vehicles and Spartan personnel carriers as their main equipment, the strength of the Latvian troops will be about 95 persons. Estonia will take part in the exercise with ca. 45 personnel with CV9035 infantry fighting vehicles as their main equipment.