VIKING 14
Exercise VIKING14 is the 7th in a series of major exercises organised by Sweden over the past thirteen years. Today, the VIKING exercise is the principal collective training opportunity for military, police and civilians and the most extensive multinational exercise of its kind in the world.
The aim of VIKING 14 is to train and educate participants - civilian, military and police - to meet the challenges of tomorrow’s crisis response and Peace Operations. This includes planning and conducting a UN mandated Chapter VII integrated Peace Operation in an unstable environment, based on a Comprehensive Approach and focusing on co-operation and co-ordination with all relevant actors.
The exercise will be developed, implemented and evaluated jointly by the Swedish Armed Forces and the Folke Bernadotte Academy in close cooperation with other participating actors, with the assumption that working together will contribute to fulfilling organisational goals and increase operational effectiveness. Military, civilians and police from different nations and organisations, including the United Nations system, international, regional, governmental and non-government organisations are welcome to participate. The exercise will be conducted at middle and senior management level in a number of countries simultaneously during the period 31 March to 11 April 2014.
The VIKING-concept
The VIKING exercise is comprised of military, police and civilian personnel deployed in parallel fictive UN, NATO and EU led operations as well as in other international, regional, governmental and non-governmental organisations. Within the respective operational mission structures, the exercise practices procedures for operational and tactical planning and application of doctrines, central conventions and resolutions, while emphasising a Comprehensive Approach to operations.
This is achieved based on a scenario that describes a fictional, historical, political, socio-economic, military and humanitarian situation in a failed state, offering challenges and opportunities to be managed by the international presence in co-operation with local actors during the course of the exercise. Military, police and civilian personnel are trained in the exercise that in reality is a series of telephone calls, e-mails, video-conferences and role-played meetings as well as joint planning sessions.
The presence of a diverse set of professional cultures, with a broad range of experiences, allows the exercise to have additional training values on the margins of the game play, and it allows organisations to train their particular specialty within the framework of the exercise platform. All participants, including International Organisations, Regional Organisations, UN Agencies and Non-Government Organisations operate according to their institutional mandates.
The VIKING exercises provide a unique learning environment where participants develop skills and acquire new knowledge in the interaction with others. When participants leave the exercise they are expected to do so with a better knowledge and understanding of the roles of the many contributors to Peace Operation and with experiences that will make them better prepared for work in international Peace Operations.
VIKING 11
The last exercise, VIKING 11, was conducted in April 2011 and saw more than 2600 participants representing 24 countries and 33 different organisations. Approximately 10% of the participants were civilian or police. The exercise was distributed at nine different exercise sites in Sweden, Austria, Georgia, Germany, Ireland and Ukraine. The military and civilian training audience was organised on three levels; Mission HQ’s, Component Commands and Brigade HQ’s/Regional Offices.
Contact
Training institutes, military forces, NGOs, law enforcement agencies and all actors with a stake in peace operations are welcome to contact the exercise planning group at viking@folkebernadotteacademy.se