The US Army Europe and Africa on Monday launched what are being described as NATO's largest artillery drills, dubbed Lightning Strike 24, and held in Finland's northernmost region of Lapland.
The exercise involves over 5,000 military personnel from the US and 28 Allied and partner nations, and will feature over 130 weapons systems, aimed at showing off the alliance's field artillery capability. But ironically this comes at a moment many Western nations have complained that their artillery shell stockpiles are dwindling to due supplying them to Ukraine over the past 2+ years of war.
The drills are expected to last until November 28, and encompass other locations beyond Finland, including Germany, Poland, Romania, and Estonia.
But it is the Finland portion of the drill likely to be most closely watched from Moscow, given the large Lapland area lies very near the Russian Murmansk region border, and north of the Arctic Circle.
"This is a good example of how our field artillery combined with Allied capabilities forms powerful defense in northern Finland and NATO," the exercise commander, Colonel Janne Mäkitalo, has stated.
He also hailed that the drills will demonstrate how allied support can come to Finland "very quickly" if needed in the event of a conflict or threat.
Most of the NATO troops will be concentrated in the Finnish portion of the drills, some 3,600 military personnel out of the total 5,000.
The US Army is the most sizeable component, according to an official press release:
Major participating units and organizations include U.S Army Europe and Africa, U.S. Army 56th Artillery Command, U.S. Army V Corps, U.S. Army 21st Theater Sustainment Command, U.S. Army 41st Field Artillery Brigade, U.S. Army 10th Mountain Division, U.S. Army 1st Cavalry Division, U.S. Army 4th Security Assistance Forces Brigade, U.S. Army 82nd Airborne Division, the Finnish Army, NATO Multinational Division Northeast, and NATO Allied Rapid Reaction Corps.
Finland and Sweden are NATO's newest members, with Finland formally gaining entry April 4, 2023. Importantly, Finland shares a 1,340-kilometre (830 mi) border with Russia, and Moscow has warned that this could result of the greater militarization of the Baltic regions.
However, President Putin has reacted relatively calmy to the development, brushing off Finland and Sweden entering NATO as but a "meaningless" move which will in the end only harm their own national interests.