Sweden and Finland applied for NATO membership following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Turkiye has not allowed Sweden to join the alliance due to its close relations with the terrorist organisation PKK. As a result, Finland and Sweden started to follow different paths.
NATO countries now surround Sweden, but this does not provide any guarantee against any hypothetical enemy attack.
Several countries are involved in Aurora-23, the United States, United Kingdom, Finland, Poland, Norway, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Denmark, Austria, Germany and France.
The exercise aims to increase the armed forces combat readiness in the event of a hypothetical armed attack on Sweden.
“This exercise is one of the main tools for upgrading, testing and demonstrating combat readiness,” said the Swedish Ministry of Defence.
The drills will be conducted in the air, on the ground and at sea, involving 26,000 soldiers from all military units, mainly in southern Sweden and on the island of Gotland.
Fighters, helicopters, transport planes and other aircraft took part in the drills conducted from several air bases and civilian airports.
