The exercise Aurora 23 with 26,000 participants is entering its final phase and Commander-in-Chief Micael Bydén arrived on Thursday at the northernmost training site, Kalixfors, a mile west of Kiruna.
Here, Swedish and Norwegian Home Guard soldiers train together with American special forces. This type of international collaboration will increasingly become a common sight at the base.
How to strengthen the base
Kalixfors is intended as a so-called detachment, that is, a subdivision of another as yet undesignated regiment. This was something that the Swedish Armed Forces presented in November as a basis for a future government decision.
On site in Kalixfors, Micael Bydén elaborated on why they choose that form and what it will mean. It is about strengthening the base with personnel, infrastructure and logistics to receive reinforcement units from Sweden and allied countries.
Supreme Commander's view of the future
It will be even more relevant the day Sweden joins NATO.
Since there are ready-made environmental permits for the training area and medical track, the base can be expanded relatively quickly.
In the clip, Micael Bydén talks about the development plans.