The US Air Force’s 352d Special Operations Wing, along with other US units, is participating in a multi-domain, joint exercise in various locations with Swedish Armed Forces.
The airmen, operating from Royal Air Force base Mildenhall in the United Kingdom, are on a Scandinavian training mission, having participated in a combined readiness exercise at Aalborg Air Base, Denmark, in late October.
The Swedish exercise will include assets from both partner nations’ air, land and maritime components, who are working together to increase interoperability and relationships for future collaborative events.
It is worth noting that in early October, the US Air Force shared photos of what appeared to be USSOCOM-operated combatant craft-assault as they were onloaded at Sweden’s Blekinge air base ahead of an exercise in the Swedish archipelago.
“The US forces are incredibly honored that our Swedish Special Operations Command partners invited us to stage and exercise with them here in Sweden. Our partners are highly capable professional operators, and we look forward to our continued collaboration throughout the Baltic Sea region,” said Joint Special Operations Task Force deputy commander of the exercise, Lt. Col. Houston Hodgkinson.
The Swedish defense ministry said the ongoing exercises were among the most complex maneuvers staged between the two sides. The joint exercises will span air, land and sea domains to further readiness and response capabilities within the Baltic Sea region.
“This exercise provides the opportunity to train with SOF partners as well as US and Swedish conventional forces across all warfighting functions and domains. This allows us to train how we will we fight, while also highlighting the credibility and capability of our combined forces,” said JSOTF commander of the exercise, Col. Nathan Owendoff. “The additive benefit is the critical value of building trust and strengthening relationships between commanders, element leaders, and special operations forces across multiple echelons.”
