Aurora 17 was a

military exercise A military exercise or war game is the employment of military resources in training for military operations, either exploring the effects of warfare or testing strategies without actual combat. This also serves the purpose of ensuring the com ...

that took place in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

during a three-week period, from 11 through 29 September 2017. Its main focus was the defence of

Gotland Gotland (, ; ''Gutland'' in Gutnish), also historically spelled Gottland or Gothland (), is Sweden's largest island. It is also a province, county, municipality, and diocese. The province includes the islands of Fårö and Gotska Sandön to the ...

. It was Sweden’s biggest military exercise in 23 years and involved troops from the United States and some other

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

countries. Major general Bengt Andersson served as its exercise director.

Events and opinions

Around 21,150 total personnel from all branches of the Swedish Armed Forces, as well as troops from foreign nations participated. One fourth of them consisted of Home Guardsmen. Civilian authorities, such as police and social services also participated.

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

(Which was not a

member at the time) and several

nations took part in the exercise. The participating nations included

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The designated exercise area covered most of Sweden, but was focused on the

Mälaren Valley The Mälaren Valley ( sv, Mälardalen), occasionally referred to as Stockholm-Mälaren Region (''Stockholm-mälarregionen''), is the easternmost part of Svealand, the catchment area of Lake Mälaren and the surrounding municipalities. The term is ...

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

and

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

. The exercise is expected to cost the

Swedish government The Government of the Kingdom of Sweden ( sv, Konungariket Sveriges regering) is the national cabinet of Sweden, and the country's executive authority. The Government consists of the Prime Ministerappointed and dismissed by the Speaker of the R ...

583 million

Swedish kronor The krona (; plural: ''kronor''; sign: kr; code: SEK) is the official currency of the Kingdom of Sweden. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usually follows it b ...

(approx. $65.6 million USD). ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Econo ...

'' put the cost at $73 million. On 13 September 2017, Sweden′s

defence minister A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...

Peter Hultqvist Carl Anders ''Peter'' Hultqvist (born 31 December 1958) is a Swedish politician of the Social Democrats who served as the Minister for Defence in the Swedish Government from 2014 to 2022. Background Born in 1958, Hultqvist is of Finnish descen ...

said, "The exercise sends an important signal about our security policy. It raises the deterrent threshold against different types of incidents.”Exercise ‘Aurora 17’ marks strategic change in Sweden’s military stance
IHS Jane's Defence Weekly, 15 September 2017. He cited the “deterioration of the security situation in Europe” as the reason for the exercise. ''

'' claimed the exercise was aimed at sending a signal to Russia.

References

External links

{{commonscat, Aurora 17
Regeringsbeslut - Inriktning för Försvarsmaktens verksamhet för åren 2016 till och med 2020

Swedish Armed Forces - Aurora 17Stop Aurora (in Swedish)

U.S. Marines plan to protect Sweden via Norway , AldriMer.no
2017 in Sweden Military of Denmark Military of Estonia Military of Finland Military of France Military exercises and wargames Military of Norway Military of Sweden Germany and NATO Military exercises involving the United States September 2017 events in Europe 2017 in military history

Events and opinions

See also

References

External links