Joint Viking 2025

Joint Viking was the largest military exercise in Norway in 2025. Together with our allies and civilian partners, we trained on defending our country.

Updated: 15. Mar 2025 11:59

Joint Viking is a Norwegian winter exercise held every other year. Around 10,000 Norwegian and allied soldiers took part in this year's exercise, held in Northern Norway from 3 to 14 March 2025.

The aim of the exercise was to enhance allied interoperability, train on protecting NATO's northern flank and to test Norway's ability to recieve allied reinforcements.

Information:

Joint Viking 2025 gathered participants from nine nations: Norway, Canada, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the USA.

For the Norwegian Armed Forces and NATO to be able to defend Norway, we must train regularly. With the current security situation, in Europe and elsewhere in the world, preparedness and well-trained military forces are more important than ever before. This especially applies for a long and strategically located country like Norway.

Where

The main activity took place in Troms County in northern Norway. There was also some activity in the air and at sea, including the Tarva firing range outside Ørland.

Allied Reinforcements

NATO is the foundation of Norway's defence. Therefore, it is important that our allies practice deploying to Norway, and they must train to operate with Norwegian forces in winter conditions. This knowledge is perishable, so we must train regularly.

Joint Viking was the largest military exercise in Norway in 2025.

Allied reinforcements

The war in Ukraine has had enormous impact not only for Ukraine, but for the entire global security situation. This demanding backdrop makes our main mission even more relevant: Defending Norway and our values.

However, NATO is the foundation of Norway's defence. In order to be able to defend Norway, our allies must exercise on deploying to Norway. They must also know how to operate along with Norwegian forces in a harsh winter climate.

We, and our allies, need to know our own terrain and conditions. This is fresh knowledge that needs to be trained on regularly. Northern Norway also offers great exercise areas, which makes this region well-suited for a major exercise like Joint Viking.

The exercise has increased our preparedness and our capability to conduct large-scale joint operations in challenging weather and climate.

The video below was made for Nordic Response 2024 and shows why we exericse.

Joint Viking 2025

Where

Allied Reinforcements

Allied reinforcements

See also