Northern Coasts 18 (NOCO18) led by the Finnish Navy, will take place in Finland from 25 October to 8 November 2018. About 4.000 persons and dozens of surface vessels and aircraft will participate in the exercise.
The aim of the exercise is to train naval international combined operations at unit and command levels in all fields of naval warfare and to enhance the interoperability of the multinational units, especially when operating in coastal conditions.
For the Finns, an international exercise offers an excellent opportunity to train with larger unit entities and capabilities in their home country and its neighboring areas. NOCO18 also enables training according to the tasks of the Defence Forces, among other things regarding providing and receiving of international assistance and host nation support.
Three phases
The exercise is divided into three phases. During the first phase the exercise units gather in Turku for their last mutual exercise preparations. The second phase will mainly take place in the Gulf of Bothnia and the Archipelago Sea. During this phase of the exercise the forces will be training in different fields of naval operations, such as maritime surveillance, protection of sea lines of communication, surface warfare, air defence, anti-submarine warfare and mine hunting and clearing.
During the third phase the forces will operate in the Archipelago Sea, the northern Baltic and the Gulf of Finland. Naval operations are conducted during the third phase with an emphasis on interoperability. As far as the coastal units are concerned the busiest exercise areas are Southwest Finland and Uusimaa during all phases.
13 nationalities will participate
A total of about 4.000 people, more than 40 surface vessels and multiple aircraft will participate in the exercise. There will be 13 participating nations. In addition to Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Canada, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the United States and Germany will participate. Finland´s share of the strength of the exercise is about 2.000 persons. The air operations of the exercise will take place around Turku, Tampere and Kuopio, for example.
Northern Coasts is the German navy´s exercise, which has become an established exercise in the Baltic Sea region. Finland has led the exercise two times before, in 2010 and 2014. The Finnish Navy participates in the Northern Coasts exercise according to its annual exercise plan. The NOCO exercises have been conducted since 2007 and Finland has participated every year.
The vessels will moor in Turku between 25 and 28 October
The participating vessels will arrive in Turku from 25 October and they will leave the harbor and go out to sea to exercise on 29 October. The vessels will moor on both sides along the River Aura during the weekend and visitors are welcome on board on Saturday 27 October and on Sunday 28 October from 12 - 16 hours. The events of the exercise and the atmosphere of the vessel presentations can be followed on the social media channels of the Finnish Navy by following hashtag #NOCO10 and #merivoimat.
