F-16C Fighting Falcon aircraft and personnel assigned to the 162nd Wing, Arizona Air National Guard, arrived at Bodø Air Station, Norway, to take part in Exercise Cold Response 20 (CR20) from March 9-18.
The U.S. will be represented by service members from each of its military services who will join forces with Norway and eight other allied and partner nations. In total, some 15,000 personnel will take part in this large-scale, tactical field training exercise, which is being hosted by the Kingdom of Norway.
CR20 is designed to enhance military capabilities and allied cooperation in high-intensity warfighting in a challenging Arctic environment with rugged terrain and extreme cold weather. This exercise will emphasize and test critical activities ranging from the reception of allied and partner reinforcements and command and control interoperability to combined joint combat operations, force sustainment, and combat logistics.
The United States stands firm with its ally Norway and its allies and partners in Europe and looks forward to participating in this exercise in the strategically important arctic region.
For more information on the 162nd Wing’s participation in the exercise, call +49 (0) 6371-47-6558 or e-mail usafepao.pao@us.af.mil. If after duty hours, please call +49 (0) 1624-25-5428 or e-mail usafepa.pastaffdutyofficer@us.af.mil.
Media interested in covering the live portion of the exercise from March 9-18, should contact U.S. Marine Corps Forces Europe’s Communication Strategy and Operations’ director, U.S. Marine Maj. Adrian Rankine-Galloway at +49.703.115.2796 or adrian.j.rankinegall@usmc.mil.