“All exercise participants have been checked in and are now ready to take part in exercise VIKING 18!” With these words, the exercise participants were welcomed by the Exercise Director of VIKING 18, Major General Andres Brännström, in Enköping/Sweden.
The Austrian Armed Forces took part in the multinational exercise project VIKING 18 from April 16 to April 26, 2018 with 42 soldiers from the Central Command, the National Defence Academy and the senior command units (land forces, air forces, logistics). The Austrian exercise participants were deployed at the operational level as part of the BOGALAND FORCE (BFOR) and the United Nations Mission in BOGALAND (UNMIB), at the upper tactical level in the Land Component Command (LCC), Air Component Command (ACC) and the Joint Logistics Support Group-Head Quarters (JLSG-HQ) and at the middle tactical level in the Combined Air Operations Center (CAOC) as well as in multinational brigades in various functions. In addition, teaching and research personnel from the Institute of Higher Military Leadership were active as Observer Trainer Tracker Mentors (OTTM). At nine locations in six countries, 2,500 exercise participants from 61 countries and around 20 organizations were asked to work together over the coming days. This included the planning and execution of a UN-mandated peace operation in an insecure and unstable environment, based on a comprehensive approach with a focus on cooperation and coordination between all relevant actors and an understanding of interdependencies and relationships. The aim was to further deepen leadership and staff service skills at various levels and branches of the armed forces as part of a stabilization operation with a civilian component and to apply the theoretical knowledge acquired in training and study courses in tactical and operational terms in practice. The air transport was carried out with the Herkules C-130 military transport aircraft from Linz-Hörsching to Uppsala/Sweden, with a stopover to pick up the Swiss officers at Emmen military airfield. Exercise VIKING 18 was an excellent opportunity to practise staff work at operational and tactical planning and command level and to recognize and deepen the networked interaction with other areas.
