Navy soldiers from the USA are practicing war in the Stockholm archipelago

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Published 14 September 2021 at 09.50

Domestic. On Friday, Skavsta Airport was filled with about a hundred US Marines. They have come to Sweden to practice combat in an archipelago environment together with the Armed Forces and the navy's amphibious unit.

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The bilateral exercise Archipelago Endeavor is carried out under the auspices of the Amphibious Regiment just outside Stockholm.

At the same time, a large Russian-Belarusian exercise is taking place on the other side of the Baltic Sea with about 200,000 soldiers. It is the largest Russian exercise since the Cold War. >

– The exercise gives us a unique and valuable opportunity to exchange experiences and knowledge. It is through exercises like this that we learn more about each other, can strengthen our relationships and lower the threshold for being able to work side by side in the event of a crisis or war, says Colonel Patrik Gardesten, head of the Amphibious Regiment.

Initially, the approximately 350-strong force that participates in the exercise will carry out a number of different training elements that aim to get to know each other better, each other's weapon systems, platforms and combat techniques. After that, everything will then be sewn together towards the end in a more applied part where constituent units are expected to be able to plan and carry out a more complex task together.

– During the exercise we will, among other things, practice disembarkation procedures from battleships and sniping. We will also carry out sniping with heavy weapon systems as grenade launchers in order to be able to weave everything together in the end, concludes Captain Erik Rosén, one of several officers in the unit who is responsible for exercise planning.

The exercise will primarily be carried out on the Armed Forces' own training and firing range areas in the Stockholm archipelago, which is why the general public will not be affected to any great extent.