Sweden to hold largest military drills in April, May

The Aurora-23 military exercises will be held in Sweden in April and May.

The drills will be the largest national manoeuvres of this type in more than 25 years, European Pravda reports, citing the Swedish Armed Forces.

Several countries and all types of Swedish troops will participate in the Aurora 23 defence exercises. The report says the manoeuvres will strengthen the collected potential to counter an armed attack on Sweden.

Aurora-23 is the largest national exercise of this kind for more than a quarter of a century: more than 26,000 men and women will take part in them. The exercises will be conducted in the air, on the ground and at sea, units will be involved throughout Sweden. The training sessions will mainly occur in southern Sweden and on and around the island of Gotland.

To conduct the exercises, participants will primarily use their own ranges and ranges of the Swedish Armed Forces, but the events will also take place on private territories. In these areas, landowners and residents will receive additional information.

Air exercises will mainly be held in the south of Sweden day and night from April 24 to May 11. Sorties of combat aircraft, helicopters, transport and other aircraft will be carried out from several air bases and civilian airports.

In addition to Sweden, the United States, Great Britain, Finland, Poland, Norway, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Denmark, Austria, Germany and France will participate in the manoeuvres.

Earlier, the Swedish Armed Forces clarified that the manoeuvres would begin on April 17.