The exercise scenario was as follows: the enemy is strengthening its military presence on NATO's eastern borders, reports the Associated Press. Due to acts of sabotage, Gotland is struggling with power outages and food shortages. Sweden is leading the exercise to test what actions NATO members can take before Art. 5 of the collective defense treaty. “Theoretically, it could happen as early as tomorrow,” Rear Admiral Jonas Wikstrom, the exercise director, told the AP.
Invited Ukrainian military officers demonstrated how to conduct war using drones. Their squad defeated Swedish forces during exercises — one of the drone operators told the AP agency. According to him, they “stopped the exercise three times” to think about how to act more effectively, but in reality they would have died.
The Swedish armed forces need to improve their drones and tactics, and commanders need to better understand how to fight a war using them, said another operator fighting against the Russian army. In his opinion, military officers from Western countries cannot understand what it really looks like. “You have to see it with your own eyes,” he added.
All NATO forces they have to “learn quickly” conducting and countering drone operations, and the “fastest” way is to listen to the Ukrainians, said the commander of the Swedish armed forces, General Michael Claesson. Western countries must also focus on long-range detection measures that allow the identification of drones from long distances, says Brigadier General Curtis King of the US armed forces.
