Vantage Point North

" Unidentified troops have taken over several government buildings, an harbor and airports across Finland. Finnish army has alerted it’s available conscripts, mobilized the reserve local battalions and sent them to support police and border guard units engaging the hostile forces. The local authorities have began transitioning into a crisis mode. " That's how my March 11, 2017 article "Countering the Hybrid War - The Finnish Way" begun. Police and Army during a local defense exercise It has now been two years since that article. So has the Finnish approach of comprehensive security, combined with conscript based military, evolved during the past two years? From the military perspective the framework laid before has remained the same. The proposed changes in the legislation have mostly been passed and they include: - Comprehensive intelligence laws that cover both military and civilian intelligence - Laws regarding the use of forc

MSTA-S SPGs mobilizing near the Ukrainian border The Russian army loves it’s grandiose main exercises. Not only do they present a great venue for strategic signaling and shows of force, but they also allow Russia to test its mobilization, logistics, command and communication capabilities with a realistic amount of forces. The this years main exercise Tsentr 2019 ( Center 2019), was announced last December . The exercise will have foreign components from following countries : - China - India - Kazakhstan - Kyrgyzstan - Tajikistan - Pakistan - Uzbekistan The largest foreign participant will be China. The PLA will send over 1600 men into Russia. The Chinese force will consist of mechanized infantry and air-force units. During the previous similar exercise, the Vostok 2018, the Chinese mechanized units operated withing the Russian formations, but it’s unknown how well the integration actually works and whether or not these composite units are actually capable of conducting