Military exercises are held regularly by armed forces throughout the world. An exercise can be seen as an act of diplomacy, a direct threat, a demonstration of military capability for deterrence or – in the case of Nato – an expression of unity.
In purely military terms, exercises allow different nations’ armed forces to act in cooperation. They are useful for testing plans for deployment, reinforcement and logistics. New weapon systems and doctrines can be tried out in the field in as close to combat conditions as possible.
As Nato’s Cold Response 2022 exercise takes place in Norway, it may look like Nato is preparing to reinforce its troops already in Europe following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. That is a possibility, but it was not the aim when the exercises were planned last year. Cold weather training is vital for military forces, and Norway has often been used by Nato for this type of preparation. Cold Response 2022 is a continuation of biannual exercises held in Norway since 2006. Publicised in June 2021 and notified to the Russians in January 2022, it was planned before the Russian invasion in February.
