Status: 03/19/2022 10:40 a.m
Four US soldiers have died during the “Cold Response” winter exercise in Norway. For reasons that have not yet been clarified, they crashed their V-22B Osprey aircraft. The accident is now being investigated.
A fatal accident occurred during the NATO military maneuvers “Cold Response” in Norway. Four US soldiers crashed their V-22 Osprey military aircraft in the north of the country. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre confirmed her death on Twitter and said: “Our deepest sympathy goes to the families, relatives and comrades of the soldiers in their unit.”
The police in the province of Nordland and Norway’s army also confirmed that the crew died in the accident. The cause of the crash is still unclear, but is now being investigated.
Bad weather conditions
According to local police and the Joint Rescue Coordination Center (JRCC), the military aircraft disappeared from radars south of Bodö on Friday at 18:26 CET. At that time, bad weather conditions prevailed in the area, it said.
A rescue helicopter and a Norwegian military aircraft then searched the area and spotted the wreckage from the air at 9:17 p.m. CET after receiving a distress signal, police said. A rescue operation was initiated immediately. The police arrived at the crash site around 1:30 a.m. and found the crew dead.
30,000 soldiers involved in maneuvers
30,000 soldiers with 220 aircraft and more than 50 ships from NATO countries are involved in “Cold Response”, the largest military exercise under Norwegian leadership since the Cold War – but also Sweden and Finland, which are not part of the alliance. The defense of Norway under difficult climatic conditions is to be tested on the water, in the air and on land.
NATO usually holds the “Cold Response” exercise every two years. The maneuver, which lasts until April 1 and takes place just a few hundred kilometers from the Russian border, was therefore scheduled well before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. According to NATO, Moscow was informed in detail and invited to send observers, but declined.