For the first time, American and British forces have conducted live-fire exercises with rocket artillery on Gotland (strategic island in the Baltic Sea). The firings, which are part of the exercise Swift Response 25, were carried out with the long-range systems HIMARS and MLRS.

The exercise began with approximately 110 paratroopers from the British 2 Para being air-dropped north of Visby (a town on Gotland) to secure a forward base in preparation for the transport of the artillery units. Within less than a day, transport aircraft from the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Netherlands arrived.

– What we are doing is what we call a HIRAIN – High Mobility Artillery Rocket System Rapid Infiltration – where we quickly bring artillery systems to strategically important locations with air combat forces, says Major Seth Pearson, exercise director from the US Army, in an article on the Swedish Armed Forces' website.

According to the Swedish Armed Forces, the Swedish effort has focused on host nation support, including receiving and preparing on the ground as well as acting as adversaries to the transported units. The exercise is part of the larger US-led exercise series Defender 25, which involves around 25,000 participants in Europe.