Up to 3,600 personnel members will participate in the drills in Finland, including 1,250 international troops.

Finland’s Army Academy will organise Nato’s Lightning Strike 24 artillery exercise next month in Finnish Lapland.

The drills, taking place in areas around Rovajärvi and Rovaniemi between 4 and 28 November, are part of US-led (Dynamic Front 25) exercises in five European countries.

According to the Finnish Defence Forces (FDF), the effort will be the largest artillery drills that Nato has ever carried out in Europe.

The objectives of the exercise is to show the alliance’s defence capabilities in the region, as well as to practise operational command, control and cooperations with the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps, according to an FDF press release on Tuesday.”

“Rovajärvi, the largest firing range and training area in Northern Europe, will provide Allied troops with an excellent setting for exercising long-range fire. We are very happy to be able to execute Lightning Strike as a part of a larger exercise development framework this year,” said Colonel Janne Mäkitalo, the Lightning Strike 24 exercise director.

Up to 3,600 personnel members will participate in the drills in Finland, including 1,250 international troops. Apart from Finland, countries taking part in the drills will include the US, UK, Sweden, Estonia, France, Czechia and others, the FDF said.

Finland’s participation will involve personnel from the Army brigade-level units, the Air Force, Border Guard, the Finnish Defence Forces C5 Agency, the Centre for Military Medicine, and the Finnish Defence Forces Logistics Command, according to the FDF.

International military equipment transports to the exercise areas are starting during the middle of this month, with individual transports travelling across the country.

The exercises will mostly impact communities in the Rovaniemi-Kemijärvi area, due to traffic during the night and day, as well as an increase in the use of local services, the FDF said.

Meanwhile, a concurrent air defence exercise, dubbed ADEX 2/24 Mallet Strike, will take place at the Lohtaja Firing Range and Training Area between 12 and 21 November. That exercise will involve around 1,300 soldiers.