It hit the ground US plane crashes in sky over

“It hit the ground.” US plane crashes in sky over Norway

A military aircraft An American crashed during a NATO exercise in northern Norway, killing all four American soldiers on board. Confirmation of the deaths came from Northern Norway District Chief of Staff Bent Arne Eilertsen to local broadcaster Nrk. The Joint Rescue Coordination Centers, a specialized type of rescue services performed by personnel from multiple military services, civilian services, or a combination of military and civilian services, said the MV-22 Osprey aircraft participated in the “Cold Response” military exercise. .

What happened

The Marines reported that the plane was involved in “an accident” without giving further details at the time. An investigation into the incident has now been launched. The Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey was scheduled to land around 19:00 Italian time on March 18, but track was lost just before 18:30. A spokesman for the Jrcc said the plane “impacted the ground” while the Index area raged. bad weather. Norwegian Police Commander Bent Arne Eilertsen added to public broadcaster Nrk that investigations of the rescue helicopter in the area of ​​the crash south of Bodo, a town on Norway’s north-west coast, indicate they don’t seem to have any “signs of life” around the Wreckage of the plane around to exist. The rescue operation proceeds with great difficulty due to adverse weather conditions.

What is “cold reaction”?

As expected, the MV-22B Osprey (a medium-sized military tiltrotor) was used in the exercises NATO “Cold Response”: 30,000 military personnel, 200 aircraft and about fifty ships from 27 different nations, including Sweden and Finland. These are the figures from the Atlantic Alliance’s “Cold Response 2022” exercise, which started a few days ago in Norway. As reported, this is the largest NATO military exercise organized this year with the aim of testing the capabilities of Western forces to operate in cold climates like Norway, including its arctic spaces, both on land and at sea and in the fight air. NATO exercises are taking place very close to the Russian border, and although they were planned long before war broke out between Russia and Ukraine, they now take on a whole different meaning: the signal to Moscow to prepare the West to defend itself is loud and clear.

“This exercise is extremely important for the security of Norway and its allies,” Norwegian Defense Minister Odd Roger Enoksen told France24. On the Russian side of the 196km Arctic border separating Russia from Norway is the Kola Peninsula, home to the Northern Fleet and a large number of nuclear weapons and military installations. “There is no explicit military threat against NATO or Norwegian territory,” Enoksen said, but “the situation in Europe is bigger unpredictable like it hasn’t been for a long time.” To avoid misunderstandings, Norway has already informed Russia about the “cold response” exercise, which is defined as purely defensive. However, the Russians declined the invitation to send observers to the exercise.