The Navy’s spring main exercise to be launched in the coastal area of the Gulf of Finland

The Finnish Navy’s spring main exercise Narrow Waters 26-1 will be held from 20 to 27 May 2026. Exercise activities will take place in the coastal areas of Southern Finland and in the Gulf of Finland.

Narrow Waters 26 -1 will train vessels and troops to conduct joint naval operations in the unique environment of the Northern Baltic Sea. The Navy will rehearse the execution of coastal defence and combat in the archipelago with its Allies.  

In addition to Finnish coastal troops and Navy vessels, an approximately 100 personnel strong German Navy coastal jaeger company and around 30 personnel from the United States Marine Corps will participate in the exercise.  Units from the Border Guard and the Finnish Defence Forces Logistics Command will also be involved in the exercise.  

The Utti Jaeger Regiment and the Air Force will conduct sorties related to the exercise over the southern coast and the Northern Baltic Sea. During the exercise, testing activities will be conducted, among other things, with unmanned systems at sea and in the air. 

In the exercise, which has become part of the exercise cycle, the know-how of Contingent 1/26 and 2/25 conscripts who will muster out in June will be evaluated in their unit compositions, and reservists will be trained for their wartime tasks. The total strength of conscripts, reservists and regular personnel participating in the exercise will be approximately 3000. 

The exercise will involve live-fire exercises as follows. The live-fire exercises may cause noise.

-    Mäkiluoto: coastal artillery 21-22 May.
-    Kirkonmaa, Rankki: fleet 21 - 23 May.

The exercise will involve military vehicle traffic between Kirkkonummi and Kotka.  The training troops will be using blank ammunition in their activities, which may cause noise.

The events of the exercise can be followed on the Navy’s social media channels using #merivoimat and #NarrowWaters