Train as we will fight: with allies.
The UK Armed Forces have been participating in a series of joint exercises across Northern Europe this spring. From NATO exercises to Joint Expeditionary Force exercises each training activity saw our Armed Forces operating with and alongside international allies and partners.
Exercise Aurora held in Sweden this May, was one of the largest of the Scandinavian spring exercises, and the largest joint exercise hosted by Sweden in 30 years. Involving 26,000 military personnel from 14 partner nations and allies Aurora tested land, air and sea forces. All three of the UK’s Armed Forces took part: the Royal Navy’s HMS Albion and Royal Marine Commandos made amphibious beach landings; RAF Typhoons took to the skies; and an armoured infantry company of the British Army mobilised a land advance.
One of the key objectives of the exercise was to test the allies’ ability to operate together, forming battlegroups of soldiers from different nations and armies; integrating, communicating and fighting as a cohesive force. B Company 1 Mercian of the British Army formed a battlegroup with a Finnish battalion, it was the first time that Finland had taken part in a joint exercise since they joined NATO in April.
Here in conversation the Finnish Battalion Commander Lieutenant Colonel Risto Kohonen and British Company Commander Major Onion discuss their experiences of operating together, and the importance of joint exercises like Aurora 23:
Maj. Onion: When you get a bunch of military people together- albeit from different nations- you see how much we’ve got in common. We’ve got the same sort of values and interests. You see that these guys treat their soldiers with a lot of respect just as we do, which is different to some places I’ve worked in the world.
I was surprised by how easy it was to work under a Finnish Battalion. They speak the same language as in terms of doctrine and how they think about problems. And they absolutely have the same approach we have, in terms of mission commands, and allowing you to have the time, space and adequate control measures that you can focus in on a problem that the enemies providing to you and figure out how to fix it.
And then when you need support, they’re easily on hand. Colonel Risto Kohonen was an absolutely charming and supportive authority throughout. And we even slotted in with their logistics capabilities really seamlessly. So, we were able to work together at a level I didn’t anticipate.
Lit. Col. Risto Kohonen: I’ve been on, let’s say, closer to 50 different international exercises and operations and this has been one of the easiest and best working cooperations I’ve had, so it’s truly a pleasure to work with Major Tom Onion and B Company.
We have very good cooperation with the Brits every time (we work with them). I think especially this time we all have kind of bonded and linked very easily starting from the beginning. We had a very, very short time to do our force integration when we started the exercise, so it was crucial that things started rolling well and they did; we had good battles in the end of the exercise. And again, I have total trust that we integrated so well that we could actually go in a battlefield together immediately with all the systems up and running.
It’s always a pleasure and honour to work with a Company of full professional soldiers. I highly respect their skills and attitude all the way throughout the exercise.
Maj. Onion: Finland have been a close partner of NATO for a long time and Colonel Risto has been on operations in Afghanistan with NATO nations and he’s been to US staff training, as I understand. So, what was really great was the flexibility he had for us when we had, you know, maybe slightly different challenges to the Fins, such as we have track vehicles (the Warriors), and he has wheeled vehicles and they can provide different opportunities and constraints.
The flexibility of mind and the willingness to listen to his subordinate commanders was, from my point of view, exemplary leadership. He was on exercise too; the Swedish were doing this at brigade level, with a whole brigade in the field, which is a real challenge in itself. So there were frictions and everything you would find in war within that. He was fighting our battle both up the chain of command and down with us; trying to integrate a British battalion whilst trying to integrate himself with the Swedish.
Lit. Col. Risto Kohonen: So there hasn’t been a single friction point between our [British and Finnish] co-operation and that’s rare. Basically, we had the one and a half days to integrate the company to a battalion. And after a few days a full battalion fighting, without any frictions, communications, everything working and even the ideas of how we fight the battle — the tactical things — we were able to kind of fluently go through all of those.
Maj. Onion: You can see immediately how easily the Fins slot into to NATO and you can imagine the Swedes doing the same as soon as they get the green light. The Finnish joining us in that alliance is a great addition, you can immediately see why they offer significant advantage for NATO; not just in terms of strategic location, but also, in terms of the type of people they bring into the alliance and the diversity of thought they offer us.
Maj. Onion: I don’t think there is going to be an operation that we ever go on where we won’t have our allies and partners there. The NATO alliance is the cornerstone of where we start as the British military and in the Army it’s in everything that we do. All of our doctrine has NATO references. On every operation or tour I have been on, since I joined the British Army 13 years ago there’s always been NATO allies there. In the British Army we train as we fight and we train with our allies because we expect to fight with them. I think they feel the same way.
Lit. Col. Risto Kohonen: It was a good opportunity, definitely at least for us to have a British Company under my command here, it was excellent. I think the importance of being here in Sweden [for Exercise Aurora] is big. Because while we work together and show that we able are to operate together, there is part of also showing that as allies, we are able to do it if required even in the hardest situations possible. So, it is vital and of course, it’s a long-term development to make sure we get all the fine detail as allies, working on a correct level.
But I think already with the JEF cooperation, all the long-term good cooperation, all the bilateral cooperation, Finland and UK have already done during the years we are in a very good position already. But it is important, especially showing to the outside world that our cooperation goes well and fluently.
Maj. Onion: I think the Chief of General Staff provided pretty clear direction last year: we are optimising to fight a land war in Europe. And I think that’s the same across the whole of NATO. There’s a very clear threat to European security and exercises like this and all the other ones being conducted around Europe at this time of year, demonstrate how committed NATO is to fighting together and operating together in the future, should the need arise.
We will never go it alone. We are in a strong alliance, which is getting stronger by the day.
