SwiftResponse

SWIFT RESPONSE

Swift Response 25 demonstrates multinational power projection and the expansion of critical capabilities on the battlefield in the High North and Baltics through airborne jumps and integration of technology in support of the Army Modernization Strategy and DoD Arctic Strategy. Swift Response 25 involves five near-simultaneous airborne insertions, HIRAIN training, a field hospital exercise and live fires conducted with NATO networks in Norway, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden and Finland from May 11 – 31, 2025.

Videos

Video by Michel Sauret

Tour of the New Montgomery Batch Plant Pad (Closed Captioned)

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District

Jan. 3, 2025 | 4:08

Jenna Cunningham, the resident engineer for the Upper Ohio River Project, takes viewers on a quick tour of the newly completed batch plant pad at Montgomery Locks and Dam. The pad may seem like an ordinary, empty parking lot, but it will serve a key role in staging the new batch plant that will be built on site to produce 400,000 cubic yards of concrete to construct a new lock chamber! The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District has awarded a nearly $770 million contract through President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to construct a new 110-foot by 600-foot lock chamber at Montgomery Locks and Dam in Monaca, Pennsylvania. Per President Biden’s Executive Order 14063 on Project Labor Agreements for Federal Construction Projects, the project also has a Project Labor Agreement in place, providing for union labor. Montgomery Locks is a critical element of national supply chains, enabling the transport of 12 million tons of goods annually on barges into and out of the Port of Pittsburgh. The locks are now nearly a century old and are at an increased risk of failure that would severely disrupt these supply chains. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law invested more than $1 billion to the Upper Ohio Navigation Project to include modernizing Montgomery Locks, which helps get goods to shelves reliably. The project is the largest Bipartisan Infrastructure Law-funded project in Pennsylvania and will support more than 13,000 jobs during construction. The district awarded the construction contract to the Trumbull-Brayman Construction Corporation, Joint Venture of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The contract begins the construction of the new lock chamber. The work involves removing the 56-foot by 360-foot auxiliary lock chamber and constructing a new 110-foot by 600-foot primary lock chamber. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers video by Michel Sauret)

Italy
Paratroopers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade will depart from Italy to conduct an airborne drop into Lithuania.
Finland
The Finnish Army will conduct a live fire exercise with the Polish Armed Forces and U.S. Forces will fire HIMARS also known as HIRAIN training.

Polish paratroopers will conduct an airborne jump into Finland, where they will join the Finnish Army to conduct force on force training.
Latvia

In Latvia, paratroopers from Spanish Airborne Brigade and 173rd Airborne Brigade will conduct an airborne jump into Latvia and a live-fire exercises will follow .

Also, the Latvian national exercise, Crystal Arrow, will be conducted simultaneously with Swift Response 25.
Lithuania

In Lithuania, there will be a Field hospital exercise and medical operations. A U.S.-based blood support detachment will deploy to Europe, where they will be issued Army Prepositioned Stock and join the 512th Field Hospital in Lithuania. The exercise will demonstrate theater medical support operations while working under chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear conditions. The field hospital exercise will also include a simulated blood draw and resupply to forward positioned medical teams using drones.

Paratroopers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade will conduct an airborne assault into Lithuania alongside NATO Allies from France, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands.

The Lithuanian national exercise Iron Wolf will be linked with Swift Response 25 events with participants from the Netherlands, Lithuania and Germany.
Norway
As part of Swift Response 25, paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division will deploy from the U.S. and conduct
a direct airborne jump into Norway in the first major event commencing DEFENDER 25. This event is one of five,
near-simultaneous airborne operations that will be taking place in Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, and Sweden.

Also U.S. and Host Nation will conduct Live-fires in Norway.
Sweden

NATO Allies will conduct an airborne jump into Gotland Island, setting the stage for U.S. Marines to conduct a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System Rapid Insertion (HIRAIN) training on the island.
United Kingdom
Troops moving from United Kingdom to Norway and Sweden.

Tags

Up Next

What is happening where?