The countries of Northern Europe are preparing for the Arctic Challenge Exercise 23 aviation training

Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Denmark are hosting Arctic Challenge Exercise 23 (ACE23).

ACE is an international air exercise conducted between May 29 and June 9.

The Ministry of Defense of Sweden announced this.

Approximately 120 aircraft and 2,700 personnel from 14 different nations are participating in ACE23.

The purpose of the exercises is to strengthen the national defense of the participants and improve the cooperation between allies.

The air forces of Sweden, Norway, and Finland joined the Cross-Border Training (CBT) in 2008. These trainings were considered cost-effective as during them, the military operated from their bases and met in the air to practice different scenarios.

In 2011, discussions started about a larger-scale CBT exercise, where the Nordic countries would invite allies and partners to join. In 2013, the first-ever Arctic Challenge Exercise was launched. Since then, ACE has been conducted every other year.

The goal of ACE 23 is to exercise and train units to manage and conduct air operations, striving for US Flag-level execution.

Arctic Challenge Exercise 23 will practice the interoperability between 4th and 5th generation fighter jets.

Sweden, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Finland, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, France, Belgium, Italy, Norway, the USA, and Canada will join the exercise. An AWACS aircraft of NATO forces will also be involved.

Previously, the Aurora 23 training took place in Sweden.

All types of troops and other armed formations of the country participated in the Aurora 23 defense exercise. Over 26,000 servicemen were planned to join the training.