NATO’s Largest Artillery Exercise on the European Continent

ROVANIEMI, Finland — The 56th Artillery Command (56th AC) executed the largest NATO and partnered artillery-focused integration exercise on the European continent, Dynamic Front, hosted by the Republic of Finland in Rovaniemi from Nov. 4-24. Participation in exercises like Dynamic Front enables U.S. Army Europe and Africa (USAREUR-AF) to increase warfighting skills in Arctic conditions, refine tactical plans, and expand interoperability in multiple domains.

“The message that we’re sending upfront is that when we train together, we’re much stronger together and we’re here to reassure our partners and allies that we can deploy to tough and demanding environments, train in any conditions, organize ourselves in multiple configurations because we have so much in common; we are interoperable because we have the same values and believe in the same things,” said Maj. Gen. John L. Rafferty, commander of the 56th Artillery Command.

The collaboration ranging across Europe included training locations in Finland, Estonia, Germany, Poland, and Romania, providing strategic opportunities to support the collective defense of NATO allies and the U.S. homeland. The exercise featured heavy use of NATO’S Artillery Systems Cooperation Activities (ASCA) network. ASCA seamlessly translates language, programming, and fires data between NATO Allies fire systems. “ASCA’s ability to send sensor data from any sensor to any shooter is invaluable; for example, being able to have a Finnish K9 battery engage targets identified by a U.S. Target Acquisition Battery and directed by an Estonian Fire Direction Center is a tremendous capability, and central to NATO’s ability to conduct long-range precision fires,” said Maj. Nicholas Chopp, a USAREUR-AF spokesperson.

“The central idea of Dynamic Front is to ensure that we engage targets with the most effective and most efficient engagement method. We do this with a nonlethal, engagement training method, which we use in all training exercises. The lessons we’re observing are about how we need to employ our artillery forces, use them, protect them in ways that are very important, and transform our headquarters into a multi-domain headquarters,” said Rafferty.

Dynamic Front’s goal promotes understanding, collaboration and interoperability between Allied and partnered nations to contribute to regional stability and security by improving the ability of partnered forces to operate together effectively in times of crisis or conflict. Training objectives were informed by the Department of Defense’s Arctic Strategy, which highlights how vital the Arctic is to world security.

“We created a realistic and challenging scenario that challenged each of the headquarters that has been participating in the exercise and through the standard NATO procedures, and they were able to train through repetition in difficult conditions and then achieve success through live fire,” said Maj. Gen. John L. Rafferty, commander of 56th Artillery Command.

This is Finland’s first time hosting such an extensive NATO exercise since joining the alliance, which stretched all the way from the Arctic Circle to the Black Sea, including rocket and cannon artillery live fires in five different countries. This event was also Finland’s first time serving as a NATO Multi Corps Land Component Command under NATO’s warfighting structure.

“It's a great opportunity for the Finnish Army to host this Dynamic Front exercise, testing our capabilities, interoperability, and readiness to conduct live fires in demanding Nordic conditions,” said Lt. Gen. Pasi Välimäki, commander of the Finnish Army. “This exercise also shows Finland’s swift ability to receive reinforcements from our allies and our readiness to command and control multinational forces, directly contributing to our readiness to defend the alliance.”

NATO and the United States used over 130 different weapon systems throughout the exercise, such as the Swedish and British Archer FH77, Finnish K9 Thunder, French CAESAR, U.S. M777 towed 155 mm howitzer, U.S. M119 105 mm howitzer, and U.S. and Finnish M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System (M270 MLRS). It was also the first deployment to the Arctic of the Army’s newest variant of the MLRS system, the M270A1. The M270A1 provides significant improvements to an already very capable platform, including the ability to fire the Army’s Precision Strike Missile.

The exercise involved more than 5,000 U.S. and multinational service members from 28 Allied and partner nations; Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Türkiye.

Dynamic Front provided the US, Finland, and the rest of the NATO Allies participating an opportunity to test and refine NATO’s Deter and Defend plans. “Everything we do as a theater Army centers on building and refining effective plans, so being able to work closely with our new Finnish Allies on NATO’s newest plans has been a great opportunity,” said Chopp.

“Given that Finland borders with Russia, it was very important for us to show that we are a security provider rather than a security consumer. So for us, it’s very important to integrate with NATO, and within that, it’s important that we work with bigger armed forces such as the United States and the United Kingdom, and that we’re able to provide a platform and a training environment to which troops are not that accustomed to. I think it’s great to have you guys here; together, we’re stronger,” said Alexander Stubbs, President of the Republic of Finland and Commander in Chief of the Finnish Armed Forces.