On March 5, it was confirmed that a Norwegian soldier participating in the Cold Response exercise in Norway was corona infected and about 850 soldiers were quarantined. A few days later, Finland announced that they were withdrawing their 400 soldiers from the exercise.
About 14,000 military personnel from Norway, Denmark, Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Sweden and the United States would practice in Norway from March 2 to March 18.
But on Wednesday, Norway decided to end the exercise in advance. Around 350 Swedish soldiers are on the scene. The transport home is expected to take place this weekend.
- Even if the decision to cancel is made, it should be done calmly. Not only do you gather 350 people and go home. It should be controlled, says Jonas Olsson, press officer at the Swedish Armed Forces.
On Wednesday, the US military team for Europe (EUCOM) also stated that the exercise Defender Europe is affected by the corona pandemic. The number of American participants in the exercise will be reduced.
"The health protection of our force and our allies and partners is of paramount concern," the US Army writes in its press release.
20,000 US soldiers were scheduled to move directly from the United States to Europe. It is the United States' largest military operation in Europe since the Cold War.
Freddy Jönsson Hanberg is the founder of the Total Defense Foundation and has fears about both Defender Europe and the upcoming Swedish exercise Aurora.
"It is likely that Defender Europe will be further affected by the forecasts made by German health authorities regarding the spread of infection, since the exercise is heavily dependent on German host country support," he says.
Exercise Aurora 20 in Sweden, together with Total Defense Exercise 20, will start on May 11 and last for a few weeks.
About 25,000 military and other personnel will participate in Aurora, including 3,000 from other countries, according to the plan. However, the Armed Forces do not rule out that this figure may be adjusted due to the Corona virus. However, no nation has signaled that they want to reduce participation.
- It may change at short notice. It depends on how other nations choose to deal with Coronavirus. But it is clear that this may change at short notice. I talked to the Aurora organization. They plan as usual simply, says Jonas Olsson, press officer at the Swedish Armed Forces.