Sweden hosts biggest military drill in years

Sweden is hosting a massive military exercise — its largest for decades — as it continues its efforts to join the NATO military alliance.

The exercise, known as Aurora 23, began on Monday and is set to continue until May 11.

The drill, Sweden's largest since 1989, will involve more than 26,000 military personnel from Sweden and 13 other countries, including France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The German sKoller auction house director Cyril Koller gestures during the sale of a fossilized skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex dinosaur in Zurich, Switzerland on Tuesday. The ancient bones ended up selling for $5.3 million.tate broadcaster Deutsche Welle quoted a spokesperson for Sweden's armed forces as saying: "Together with military units from our partner countries, we build security and, concurrently, reinforce the Swedish operational capability. Uniformed personnel and land vehicles will circulate outside the bases and airports."

Sweden, which has officially applied to join the NATO Western military alliance, said the exercise will help it and its NATO allies practice working together "in the air, on ground, and at sea".

The military spokesperson said: "Training is a good way to strengthen, signal, and test our military capabilities. Thus, conducting large-scale and extended exercises is key to creating a stronger defense."

The drills will be mainly focused on practicing ways to counter aggression aimed at Sweden but will also rehearse the delivery of aid and military supplies in the event of the country being attacked.

The Swedish military said exercises will be held in all regions of the nation but that most activity will take place in the south, and particularly around the strategically important island of Gotland.

Sweden has cooperated closely with NATO for decades but has previously resisted joining the alliance, preferring to maintain an official stance of military non-alignment that has persisted for 200 years.

However, the nation asked to join NATO after the start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and is going through the process of having its membership application vetted by other NATO members. Turkey and Hungary have both voiced concerns about letting Sweden join the alliance.

Sweden's neighbor Finland, which shares a long land border with Russia, joined NATO on April 4, becoming its 31st member state.

The pan-European news website Euractiv said the military exercise in Sweden will involve participating nations' air forces, armies, and navies.

The Agence France-Press news agency said Austria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, and Ukraine will be among the nations taking part.

Brigadier General Stefan Andersson told Swedish media the military exercise has been slated to take place since 2015, but he said it was modified to take into account issues that have arisen because of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

He said the drill will also reflect "that we are now on our way into NATO, which makes this exercise even more important".