Daniel S | 21 Sep 2017 12:12 p.m. PST |
There are currently some 1300 US soldiers, sailors and marines in Sweden where they are taking part in the Aurora 17 exercise. Aurora is the largest Swedish exercise in 24 years time and involves some 19.000 participants from all branches of service as well as another 1600 armed forces personel acting as excercise staff & support. The U.S troops are visiting to provide the Swedish armed forces with an OPFOR that has capabilities not found in the Swedish armed forces such as attack helos, naval units with advanced air defence capabilities and mech units with an extensive array of ATGMs. After intial training with the Skaraborg regiment to become familiar with the terrain and local safety rules and regulations a mechanized combat team from Minnesota Army National Guard's 194th Armored regiment has joined the Livgardet (Royal Guard) 12. Motorized battalion to simulate an air landed enemy force north of Stockholm. Later the combined unit will move south of Stockholm and again act as OPFOR during the final stage of the exercise which involves repulsing a seaborne invasion of the area. Marines from Marine Rotational Force Europe 17.2. and Company E Long Range Surveillance, 134th Infantry Regiment (Nebraska Army National Guard)has joined the Swedish 31. battalion (an air mobile light infantry unit) from the Livregementet hussars on the island of Gotland where they and the Chinook & Apache helicopters of the the 12th Combat Aviation Brigade are acting as OPFOR against a joint Swedish-Finnish task force that includes mechanised troops from the Gotland regiment, Jaegers from the Finnish Pori brigade and Swedish air defence units. Later all of these troops will move to mainland Sweden to act as part of the OPFOR during the final stage of the exercise. Also taking part are AA units from both the US and France, partly because Sweden is looking to buy a new long range AA system within a year or two and Patriot and SAMP/T are basicly the only two systems that provide the capabilities that Sweden is looking for. link The 1st Combined Arms battalion, 194th Armored has an excellent facebook page with a lot of very good photos from their part of the exercise. Gives a great view of US troops in unfamiliar terrain as well as an idea of what the modern day Swedish army looks like. facebook.com/194Armor link link link link link link The Skaraborg regiment also has a number of photos on facebook link And last but not least the "Old Guard" of the Swedish army The lone remaining IKV-91 platoon link |
StoneMtnMinis | 21 Sep 2017 1:23 p.m. PST |
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Bellbottom | 21 Sep 2017 3:29 p.m. PST |
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7dot62mm | 21 Sep 2017 11:03 p.m. PST |
Interesting. Of course as Sweden has abolished its armed forces any army can drive around Sweden at will so this is no special feat :) |
emckinney | 22 Sep 2017 8:41 a.m. PST |
So, Putin's attempts to intimidate his neighbors have resulted in joint Swedish-Finnish-U.S. military exercises. That was unthinkable until recently. We sometimes see Putin depicted as a master of geopolitics, controlling everything around him, but a lot of his moves have been counter-productive. I mean, when the Swedish socialists are campaigning with the argument that the conservative government cut military spending, things aren't going Russia's way … |
Garand | 22 Sep 2017 10:21 a.m. PST |
IKV-91 was always a cool little tank. Love to see someone put one out as a model kit… Damon. |
Lion in the Stars | 22 Sep 2017 1:11 p.m. PST |
Pretty sure Army's Armies has one in the works in 15mm, Garand. |
Rakkasan | 22 Sep 2017 9:01 p.m. PST |
Sweden has not abolished its armed forces. Reduced, yes, but not abolished. Were it not for treaty obligations to NATO and South Korea US force structure would have been much smaller. Secretary Rumsfeld was on the way to drastically reduce it as well and only the attack o 9/11 stopped it. The Russian threat was not full appreciated until recently even by te US. |
Bellbottom | 23 Sep 2017 3:04 a.m. PST |
I thought Sweden had just re-introduced conscription? |
Iztvan | 23 Sep 2017 3:33 a.m. PST |
Technically, we have reactivated conscription, not reintroduced it. I guess that can be considered a legal technicality. And that is conscription at a very low lever, just a few perent of each years available young people. |
Daniel S | 23 Sep 2017 6:32 a.m. PST |
Well you have to walk before you can run, we have neither the officers & ncos required to train 40.000 conscripts a year like we did 25 years ago nor the barracks to house them. (And there is the small issued of there not being weapons, uniforms and other equipment either.) Current goal with conscription is to ensure that the existing units are fully manned. The aim is actually to get the conscripts to sign up as either full time or part-time regulars once they have completed their initial 9 or 11 months of service. Those that do not will become reservists that will do refresher training every 2nd or 3rd year and can be mobilised as needed in a crisis or outright war. |
soledad | 23 Sep 2017 7:06 a.m. PST |
The IKV91 is not a tank, it is designated as a tank destroyer. the armour is very thin, giving protection up to 23mm rounds but not more. Also the gun is not a high pressure gun but a low pressure gun firing 90mm HEAT rounds. But i certainly agree, it is a cool vehicle! |