The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Defence has announced that the first shipload of military equipment arrived in Norway this weekend as a part of NATO’s exercise Trident Juncture 18.

NATO’s exercise Trident Juncture 18 is still two months away, but the first shipload of military equipment arrived in Norway. The field exercise starts in late October, but the first military materiel and vehicles arrived in Åndalsnes, Western Norway on Saturday 18 August.

The military vehicles and equipment arrived on the Italian roll-on/roll-off ship Capucine , which was unloaded by Norwegian Home Guard and Norwegian Defence Logistics Organisation personnel, who prepared its onward movement to the exercise areas.

Lieutenant General Rune Jakobsen, chief of the Norwegian Armed Forces’ Joint Headquarters, described ‘Trident Junction’ as “vital for Norway’s defense capability”, providing “valuable training along with our allies. But equally important is to test our ability to receive reinforcements from NATO,” he added.

Trident Juncture 18 will be NATO’s biggest military exercise in recent years (since 2002), held in Norway in November 2018. It will bring Allies and partners in a 40,000 strong, regularly scheduled exercise commanded by Joint Force Command Naples and designed to certify the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force and NATO Response Force 2019 rotation.

Around 130 aircraft, 70 vessels and up to 10,000 vehicles will be used during the exercise.

Large exercises like Trident Juncture 18 are necessary for ability to deploy and receive troops, and undertake large-scale military operations under challenging conditions. Exercises like this make NATO better prepared to counter any aggression, if necessary.