Nordic countries have aligned with NATO in their assessment of the higher threat level stemming from Russian aggression in Crimea. All of them plan for coping with Russian assertiveness, some searching for synergies through the NORDEFCO framework, while others prefer to pledge more to the NATO umbrella - and demand more of it. Since 2013, Arctic Challenge has been a kind of European 'Red Flag.' This year, Sweden was the organizing nation for the fourth iteration, between 21 May - 5 June. Drills were conducted by 142 aircraft, 95 of which were fighters flying their missions over Finland, Norway and Sweden. Aircraft were based in Rovaniemi (Finland), Bodo and Orland (Norway) and Kallax (Sweden). Each pilot participated in two COMposite Air Operations (COMAO) each day, coordinated by a command and control (C2) centre in Sweden. The main goal of Artic Challenge is improving interoperability between NATO and non-NATO forces - read Finnish and Swedish. The exercise underlines the peculiar geopolitics of northeast Europe, where multiple military alliances generate nuanced scenarios. In principle, similarities between Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden gave impetus to the foundation of the NORDEFCO regional organisation, with the common approach incorporating a mutual defence clause and the commitment to integrate the various national armed forces to the maximum possible extent. With the establishment of NATO, Denmark and Norway opted for signing the North Atlantic Treaty, while Finland and Sweden opted for neutrality and strategic independence. NORDEFCO was launched anyway, but it worked like a cooperation forum to preserve joint capabilities amongst countries working in the same operational environment - but in different political scenarios.
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