Finnish Army joins in Dynamic Front

Photo By Sgt. Dominique Crittenden | A Finnish soldier observes a firing call during a multinational live-fire display as part of Exercise Dynamic Front 2022 (DF22), Grafenwoehr Training Area, Germany, July 22, 2022. DF22, led by 56th Artillery Command and U.S. Army Europe and Africa directed, is the premiere U.S.-led NATO Allies and Partners-integrated fires exercise in the European theater focusing on fire interoperability and increasing readiness, lethality and interoperability across the human, procedural and technical domains. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Dominique' Crittenden, 5th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment)  

GRAFENWOEHR, GERMANY

07.22.2022

Story by Spc. Dominique Crittenden 

5th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment   

GRAFENWOEHR, Germany – “This is a very smoothly-run operation on every aspect; and there’s a very clear picture on the operation that’s being run at a high level, with the level of professionalism matching that,” said Finnish Army Lt. Col. Pekka Kinnunen, commanding officer of Satakunta Artillery Regiment, Pori Brigade.

Finnish observers and Joint Tactical Air Controls (JTAC) joined in Exercise Dynamic Front 2022 (DF22)—a U.S. and NATO-led multinational firing exercise—this year and played a crucial role controlling terminal bomb runs from U.S. Air Force F-15 Eagles assigned to the 48th Fighter Wing. During the exercise, partnering countries worked together and synced their operating systems, in order to operate each other's respective weapons. This capability comes in part from the 41st Field Artillery Brigade (41st FAB)—a part of the 56th Artillery Command—who has been leading the planning and execution of the operation.

“We’ve seen nothing but experts in their craft across all the nations, regardless of the country or the troops,” said Kinnunen. “Our main host, the 41st FAB, has done a great job on facilitating and coordinating the entire thing.”

Since its inception in 2015, coordinators say the exercise has gradually increased in participants and progressively built upon previous successes seen over the last seven years. Exercise Dynamic Front is open to interested countries, like Finland, offering an opportunity for those to come and observe the exercise's execution. In a July 2022 Press Release statement, U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Stephen Maranian, Dynamic Front Exercise Director shared that the increased participation helps build "a stronger fires enterprise that is both combined and joint."

Kinnunen discusses the Finnish’s role at DF22, “We’re mainly here as an observer and also to see what kind of possibilities this exercise could give us to enhance our capabilities and become interoperable, fire-wise, in the future.”

The exercise as a whole left a lasting impression, according to commander of the Niinisalo Village, Finland-based unit. He hopes to take lessons learned from the exercise's different levels of artillery command, command posts and the Artillery Systems Cooperation Activities University, and bring it to his nation’s forefront and add to the NATO partnership in exercises to come.

“We’re just extremely grateful to have such a great experience and hopeful to continue the cooperation with partnering nations in the future as we grow both individually and collectively.”

• Date Taken: 07.22.2022
• Date Posted: 07.22.2022 09:26
• Story ID: 425532
• Location: GRAFENWOEHR, DE