The main troops of the multinational Joint Fires Demonstration and Assessment event Bold Quest 19.1 will arrive in Finland during late April - early May 2019. The applied testing phase will begin in 6 May. The event in Finland will be led by the Commander of the Finnish Air Force, Major General Pasi Jokinen.
”The event tests and demonstrates the functional and technical interoperability of Joint Fires, ISR and Fires systems. Also we get to test and assess our own procedures in multinational operational environment”, MG Jokinen tells.
The Finnish Defence Forces will lead the event together with the US Joint Staff. The multinational Command Center will be located in Sodankylä. The national and multinational Combined Joint Command Control Communications and Computers Center will be operating in Riihimäki. In addition, multiple command locations, systems and virtual simulators outside Finland will be connected to the event.
A total of almost 2,200 persons from 14 countries are expected to participate the event in Finland. Approximately 700 of the participants will be from Finland. The largest foreign detachments will come from the United States, Norway, France, Denmark and Sweden.
As part of the assessment of the digital information flow and the command and control systems interoperability, air and land based weapons systems will take part in the live firing phase of the event. Air to Ground and Army Joint Fires test firings will be conducted in the Rovajärvi Range Area during weeks 20 and 21.
A Finnish heavy rocket launcher battery (MLRS), a heavy artillery battalion and a mortar company will be participating the test firings. Artillery guns, mortars and MLRS units from Australia, Belgium, Sweden and France will participate test firings.
The exercise flight missions will be flown from the bases in Rissala and Rovaniemi on 13-24 May. The flights are mainly directed at the training areas close to the bases and to the area around Rovajärvi. A total of over 30 aircraft and helicopters from Finland, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany, France and the United States will be participating in Bold Quest 19.1.
Two F/A-18 Hornet multirole fighters and one Pilatus PC-12NG liaison aircraft will be participating in the exercise from the Finnish Air Force. The Army participates with five NH90 helicopters.
During Bold Quest 19.1, the Finnish Defence Forces is responsible for the foreign troops’ logistics arrangements in Finland in regards to deployment, activities during the exercise, and exit from Finland.
”Bold Quest is a good opportunity to test and demonstrate the Finnish competence in various fields. Also, we get to practice the logistical arrangements for the invited foreign troops”, MG Jokinen says.
