A Navy officer walks on a deck of the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, near Split, Croatia, in 2022. The Truman participated in the Strike Warrior 2024 exercise off Norway with the carrier HMS Prince of Wales. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
THE WATCH STAFF
The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) teamed up with the British carrier HMS Prince of Wales in a training exercise off Norway in October to support the NATO ally in the face of Russian aggression. The carriers, accompanied by multiple warships and support vessels, trained with the Norwegian Armed Forces in an exercise named Strike Warrior 2024, the Royal Navy said.
“The ability of Norway and the Armed Forces to receive allies is crucial for the defence of Norway and the Nordic region,” Vice Adm. Rune Andersen, chief of the Norwegian Joint Headquarters (NJHQ), said in a statement.
Norway and Russia share a land border of more than 197 kilometers and a 22.5-kilometer marine border. As part of the NATO alliance, an attack against Norway would be considered an attack against all NATO allies. The Nordic country is guarded in part with support from NATO allies and maritime security along the coastline from the United Kingdom in the south to the Barents Sea in the north.
“By being present in the vicinity of Norway and the other countries in our region, the USA clearly shows that they will stand with their allies, and that stability in the northern areas is also important to them,” Andersen said in the statement. “The close defence cooperation with the USA has been important for Norway for more than 75 years. The presence is an important signal for the close bilateral relationship and increases the credibility of collective defence and deterrence.”
Strike Warrior 2024 involved training in anti-submarine warfare, combating offensives from uncrewed systems, air defense, pilot rescues and navigating narrow straits while under threat of attack. Navy officials did not reveal how far north the carrier groups went, but the HMS Prince of Wales traveled as far north as the Arctic Circle in February 2024 during the exercise Nordic Response, the Barents Observer reported.
After Strike Warrior 2024, the Norfolk, Virginia-based Truman and the Prince of Wales, whose homeport is in Portsmouth, U.K., joined the long-planned NATO exercise Neptune Strike. After Neptune Strike, the Norwegian logistic support ship KNM Maud, that navy’s largest vessel, was to set sail with the British carrier strike group to the Indo-Pacific, the Barents Observer reported.
In May, the Norwegian government said it wanted to add 7 billion kroner ($630 million) to the Scandinavian nation’s military budget over the next 12 years amid Russian aggression in the region, The Associated Press reported. That came after an announcement in April of a “historic increase” of 600 billion kroner ($54 billion) in the country’s defense budget over the same period.
In September, Norwegian Justice Minister Emilie Enger Mehl told public broadcaster NRK that the nation may put up a fence along part or all of its border with Russia, matching actions by its Nordic neighbor Finland, the AP reported. “A border fence is very interesting, not only because it can act as a deterrent but also because it contains sensors and technology that allow you to detect if people are moving close to the border,” Mehl said.