Commander JFC Brunssum Visits Swedish Chief of Defence

On 28 and 29 September Commander JFC Brunssum, General Salvatore Farina, visited Sweden in order to meet the Supreme Commander of the Swedish Armed Forces, General Micael Bydén, as well as other high-ranking officials from the national Defence structure of this NATO partner nation.

The main aims of this meeting were to enhance the established working relationship and ensure awareness on matters of mutual interest. General Farina and General Bydén discussed the Swedish Armed Forces contribution to Headquarters JFC Brunssum and to NATO operations and missions - both underlining the importance of the bilateral cooperation between this Scandinavian country and the Alliance at all levels.

In particular, General Farina expressed his personal appreciation to General Bydén for the significant contribution of Swedish troops to Resolute Support in Afghanistan and KFOR, in Kosovo, as well as in other crisis areas such as Mali and Somalia. Other issues discussed, within the framework of cooperation that exists between the Alliance and Sweden, included recent and upcoming training opportunities between NATO and Sweden’s forces, in particular in Northern Europe.

During the 2-day visit General Farina seized the opportunity to meet the Swedish Chief of Joint Operations, Vice Admiral Jan Thörnqvist, and his operational component commanders, together with the Home Guard representative. The programme also included a visit to operational units of the Naval Forces of the 4th Naval Warfare Flotilla and the Amphibious Regiment, during which he was shown a practical demonstration of an amphibious assault and operational manoeuvres of combat boats and hovercraft. A briefing and an operational demonstration on board a corvette of the Swedish Navy concluded the visit.