Photo By Staff Sgt. Caroline Parks | High-altitude high-opening jumpers from the Utti Jaeger Regiment load onto the U.S....... read more read more
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UTTI, Finland -- Finnish Special Operations forces from the Utti Jaeger Regiment and U.S. SOF from the 352d Special Operations Wing and 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) participated in Exercise Florin Fossil, Sep. 21-26, 2025, at Utti Jaeger Regiment base, Finland.
The exercise included airdrop operations for both personnel and equipment, utilizing the 352d SOW’s MC-130J Commando II.
“With Finland being a new NATO member, we are only going to continue to work with them more moving forward,” said the 352d SOW exercise mission commander. “We are making sure the tactics, techniques, and procedures we use during jumps or air drops are shared effectively between both countries to make these exercises more efficient
each time.”
The personnel airdrops included Finnish SOF operators performing high-altitude, high-opening and high-altitude, low-opening jumps, as well as U.S. Army Green Berets from the 10th SFG (A) performing static-line jumps. Multiple opportunities to jump in both day and night conditions during the week bolstered the Finnish jumpers’ understanding of tactics, techniques, and procedures when jumping from U.S. aircraft.
“Each time we work together it’s like plug-and-play; even when the crew changes, the process will always be the same” said a Finnish SOF operator from the Utti Jaeger Regiment. “When we first started doing this, it felt like two different groups. Now that we’ve done it a few times, it feels like we are operating as one team.”
This iteration of the exercise also introduced a new capability, Forward Area Refueling Point, which provides on-demand refueling from the U.S. MC-130J to a variety of aircraft in potentially austere locations. The 100th Air Refueling Wing FARP team is the only unit in U.S. Air Forces Europe and Africa Command able to provide this capability, and this will be the first time a U.S. aircraft provided FARP capabilities to the NH90 from the Utti Jaeger Regiment helicopter battalion.
“The characteristics that make Air Force FARP unique from other branches are its extreme mobility, minimal footprint and expeditiousness,” said a FARP operator. “It was an amazing opportunity to show our capabilities to the helicopter battalion so we can work with them to conduct FARP in the future when needed.”
Exercise Florin Fossil is a demonstration of our Allies ability to seamlessly operate together and enables a ready posture for combat capabilities in an increasingly complex security environment.
“There is familiarity now with how we do operations since we’ve had multiple opportunities to work with the Utti Jaeger Regiment,” said the mission commander. “We are building personal and professional relationships with them to standardize how we operate in the future.”
| Date Taken: | 09.23.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 11.24.2025 04:31 |
| Story ID: | 551361 |
| Location: | UTTI, FI |
| Web Views: | 68 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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