Nordic nations ponder military changes with NATO in mind

LONDON — With all Nordic countries now a part of NATO, the nations must manage find out how to reconcile and integrate national in addition to regional security needs and initiatives with what the alliance requires, which could necessitate changes to existing command structures, officials have said.

In March 2023, the commanders of the Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish and Danish air forces signed a declaration that envisioned the creation of a joint Nordic air force to guard their shared airspaces.

The concept called for the nations to integrate air command and control, joint operations planning, and execution; create flexible air basing; share situational awareness; and produce common air teaching programs and training exercises.

While the countries have experience in military cooperation, this level of integration between them is unprecedented. Acting as a coordinated force within the air relatively than independently would require a shift in the best way each nation approaches its airspace security, based on the chief of operations for the Royal Danish Air Force.

“All nations take great pride of their national commands and forces, and our sovereignty is paramount, [but] with the intention to effectively join our forces, Nordic countries have to have a minute-to-minute command function, which may plan and execute operations, including the usage of weapons in defense of our territories,” Col. Søren Andersen said March 27 at an air warfare conference hosted by the London-based Royal United Services Institute think tank.

“For example, effectively defending Copenhagen would require very close coordination between Sweden, allies and Swedish airspace,” he added. “It requires consensus. … It doesn’t work in a way where I just grab the phone and say, ‘Do you think that we must always shoot this guy or not,’ after which we are able to vote on it.

“So it must be more firm than that.”

A mini-NATO?

All of the Nordic countries are expected to share management responsibilities for the combined military force, but this will likely require them to release some level of control to a better authority.

The proposal of a combined polar air force structure has earned the title “mini-NATO” — a notion some officials don’t seem keen on.

“This Nordic initiative is in no strategy to be seen as an alternative or alternative to NATO, but as a part of it,” Andersen told conference attendees.

Along the identical lines, Lt. Col. Jan Bjurström, deputy director of air operations within the Finnish Air Force, said “Nordic air forces usually are not planning a separate structure, but one that enhances the military alliance as a complete.”

During his presentation, the Danish official touched on what he called the command structure dilemma, surrounding the challenges of getting to think about national, Nordic and NATO operational perspectives. Now that every one Nordic states are NATO members, there’s the query of how their individual and regional responsibilities will fit throughout the military alliance’s current command-and-control structure.

A statement published last month by the Norwegian Armed Forces, said the NATO command over the Nordic region would “soon” be transferred from the headquarters in Brunssum, Netherlands, to Joint Force Command-Norfolk in america.

The alliance’s command-and-control structure was not specifically designed with territorial defense in mind — something the air chiefs said will need revised to incorporate a Nordic agency.

“The Nordic air power concept and Nordic air operations center have to be aligned with NATO plans and structure. Which means that NATO’s C2 needs revision to implement this [air operations center] into it,” Bjurström said.

Through the Nordic Response exercise this 12 months, a temporarily combined Nordic air operations center was arrange for the primary time as a test on the Bodø Air Base in Norway. The middle was made up of personnel from the air forces of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden (Iceland doesn’t have a military).