NATO Sets Up Forward Brigade in Finland Using Swedish Units

The NATO Forward Deployment Brigade will be formed to protect Lapland on the basis of Swedish mechanized units from the 19th Arctic Mechanized Brigade.

This is reported by the Finnish newspaper Iltalehti, citing its own sources in NATO.

According to the sources, the new NATO brigade will have a strength of 4,000-5,000 troops and will be deployed in Finnish Lapland.

The 19th Arctic Mechanized Brigade (Norrbotten Brigade) is deployed in northern Sweden. Its headquarters is located in Boden, 130 kilometers from the Finnish border.

The brigade consists of five battalions and their support units and specializes in winter warfare. Each battalion has about a thousand soldiers. In addition to Sweden, the armed forces of Norway and Denmark are also deployed to the NATO forward brigade in Finland.

“The Swedes are in combat readiness in their own barracks, which are located next to Finland. If tensions with Russia increase, they will move to the Finnish side,” the source explained.

The sources emphasize that NATO’s operational planning now envisages that Swedish ground forces in the north will defend NATO’s eastern border together with Finnish units.

“This is a big cultural change for the Swedes, but it can be rationalized very well. The joint defense will take place in Finland, where it makes the most sense,” another NATO source emphasized.

In Northern Finland, there are already two Jaeger brigades – the Jaeger Brigade in Sodankylä and Rovaniemi and the Kainuu Brigade in Kajaan. These units, together with the NATO brigade, could form a multinational Lapland Division similar to those already operating in the Baltic, Black Sea region and near the border with Ukraine.

The heavy weapons of the new brigade will include, among other things, 155-mm Archer howitzers from the Swedish army. It will be supported by the alliance’s air and missile forces, including Eurofighter and F-35 fighters from the British Royal Air Force. If necessary, air support is also planned to be provided by British Army Apache attack helicopters, which are expected to be deployed in the spring of 2025.

The first exercises of the brigade have already begun, with various units of the NATO brigade conducting training at the Rovajärvi training ground in Finland. The participating countries are also practicing the deployment of all units of the brigade to Finland so that it can be done quickly in real-world conditions.