VIKING 18 UNDERWAY

By: Jan Gustafsson, SWEDINT/ SwAF – 20 April 2018 kl: 16.13
Archived news

At SWEDINT, the location for Site Kungsängen, the exercise Viking 18 is going full steam ahead. The aim of the exercise is to train and educate participants – civilian, military and police - to meet the challenges of current and future multidimensional crisis response and peace operations. This includes planning and conducting a UN mandated Chapter VII peace operation in an unstable environment, based on a comprehensive approach and focusing on co-operation and co-ordination between all relevant actors.

SWEDINT, VIKING18, Kungsängen
SWEDINT, VIKING18, Kungsängen
Photo: Jan Gustafsson, SwAF
SWEDINT, VIKING18, Kungsängen
Photo: Jan Gustafsson, SwAF
SWEDINT, VIKING18, Kungsängen
Photo: Jan Gustafsson, SwAF
SWEDINT, VIKING18, Kungsängen
Photo: Jan Gustafsson, SwAF

Our site hosts the 20th Multinational Brigade, consisting of three battalions within the Bogaland Force (BFOR) and lead by Colonel Lennart Wideström.

“I have two roles here. The first, to take care of the brigade and allow the students from all nations to have an environment where they can develop and learn how to perform in these types of situations. The second is in the game, to be a good subordinate commander to the Land Component Command and help fulfil the BFOR tasks.”

 At “Site Kungsängen” there are 131 participants from 15 nations - Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Kazakhstan, Romania, Switzerland, Slovakia, , Sweden, Uganda and the UK – exercising together.

 “So far, no unexpected challenges has occurred. When you mix participants from different counties, different schools, different languages, there will be obstacles to manage before you can communicate in a smooth way. But we knew that and have taken the necessary measures to make sure that we had a good start to this exercise”, says Col Wideström.