A thundering roar splits the air above the snowy plain. For a few seconds, the profile of an F35 fighter jet is visible under the thick clouds. Then it is gone. In this Nato exercise in eastern Norway, the US-made combat aircraft is the only visible American element. The soldiers on the armoured vehicles of a fictitious attacker, and the fighters that lie in sniper positions in the bushes to stop them come from France, Poland and Spain. Are they the beginning of an EU army?
Norway is the neighbour that Russia has never occupied or been at war with. Hoping to keep it that way, every other year, the Norwegian Armed Forces invite its Nato allies to come and test their ability to help defend the country against unnamed external enemies in biting winds, freezing temperatures and snow. This year, over 30,000 troops from 27 countries are participating in the exercise, named ‘Cold Response’, bringing with them battle tanks, helicopters, attack airplanes and warships.
This exercise has happened many times before. But this year is different. Not least for the Polish contingent. The artificial theatre of war in Norway mirrors a deadly real ‘theatre of war’, as military people call it, in their neighbouring country, Ukraine.
This also explains why this year’s exercise needed two buses to transport all the visiting journalists and their cameras to the display of Nato force at Rena, a remote valley in the eastern Norwegian pine forests.
Both the Norwegian government and the Nato top brass could not seem to reiterate it enough: this exercise is not a threat to anybody. As Dutch admiral Rob Bauer said when he greeted the reporters who had come to watch the war games of French, Spanish, Polish and Norwegian troops, “this exercise is not directed against any specific country or region.” In fact, it has been planned for two years, and “all OSCE members were invited to send observers”, Bauer said.
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