Cold Response is the name given to Norwegian exercises with invited Partnership for Peace countries held in northern Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

. The first one was the largest military exercise in Norway in 2006. Around 10,000 soldiers from 11 nations participated. It was a national Norwegian exercise with all NATO states invited to participate. The second exercise was held in March 2007, and the third in March 2009. The fourth exercise was held in February–March 2010. Approximately 8,500 soldiers participated.

Operations

Several of the operations were along the coast in the borders between sea and land, and together with roads and populated areas. Surveillance, patrols, road control posts, vehicle inspection, control of air space, minesweeping

Demining

Demining or mine clearance is the process of removing either land mines, or naval mines, from an area, while minesweeping describes the act of detecting of mines. There are two distinct types of mine detection and removal: military and humanitarian.Minesweepers use many tools in order to accomplish...

, evacuation of civilians, and riot control

Riot control

Riot control refers to the measures used by police, military, or other security forces to control, disperse, and arrest civilians who are involved in a riot, demonstration, or protest. Law enforcement officers or soldiers have long used non-lethal weapons such as batons and whips to disperse crowds...

 were important part of the exercise. Being a winter exercise, it puts an extra challenge in doing all this under harsh weather conditions.

Participants

Among the participants were the Norwegian Telemark Battalion

Telemark Battalion

The Telemark Bataljon is a mechanised infantry unit of the Norwegian Army. It was established in 1993, and is a part of Brigade Nord and stationed at Rena, Hedmark...

, a thousand soldiers from the Norwegian Home Guard, the Norwegian Airforce's 339 Squadron and 720 Squadron, and most of the Norwegian Navy's available forces. About 3,000 soldiers from the British 3 Commando Brigade

3 Commando Brigade

3 Commando Brigade is a commando formation of the British Armed Forces and the main manoeuvre formation of the Royal Marines. Its personnel are predominantly Royal Marines, supported by units of Royal Engineers, Royal Artillery, The Rifles, and the Fleet Air Arm, together with other Commando...

, completed their annual winter training by taking part in the exercise. 800 French mountain special forces, and 2000 Swedish soldiers along with smaller units from the Netherlands, Latvia, Estonia, Switzerland, USA, Finland, Spain, Denmark and Canada also took part.

Scenario

After an earthquake in the fictional country of Asando, an armed conflict by extremists and separation-groups against government forces erupts. The security council approves a resolution to allow NATO to take control of the situation. A peacekeeping force was assigned to help settle the conflict.

The 2006 exercise

• Cold Response's official page
• The third edition of The International Cold Express, the official newspaper of the exercise

The 2007 exercise

• Cold Response 2007

The 2010 exercise

February 17 through March 4.
Up to 9000 troops from 14 participating nations.

• Cold Response 2010