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Finland’s Northern Strike 225 Artillery Drill Underscores NATO's Strength Near Russia.
Finland launched its Northern Strike 225 drill in Lapland with 2,200 troops, 500 assets, and Polish Homar‑K rocket launchers flown in by Ukrainian An‑124s, marking a clear NATO fires signal near the Russian border.
On 17 November 2025, Finland launched the Northern Strike 225 artillery exercise at the Rovajärvi training area in Lapland, around one hundred kilometres from the Russian border, as reported by Finnish News Agency YLE. The drill brings together 2,200 soldiers and some 500 pieces of military equipment in one of Western Europe’s largest live-fire ranges. Beyond its scale, the exercise is notable for the first deployment to Finland of two Polish Homar-K launchers, a Polish adaptation of the South Korean Chunmoo multiple rocket system, flown in by Ukrainian-operated Antonov An-124 strategic airlifters. The combination of Finnish massed artillery and allied long-range rockets turns this routine training event into a clear demonstration of NATO’s ability to project firepower into the High North.
Finland’s Northern Strike 225 exercise and Poland’s deployment of Homar-K launchers transform Lapland from a remote training ground into a showcase of NATO’s evolving northern déterrent (Picture Source: Polish MoD / Finnish MoD)
Northern Strike 225 is led by the Kainuu Brigade and assembles artillery and support units from the Kainuu, Pori and Jaeger brigades, as well as the Border Guard. Conducted in early-winter conditions, the exercise tests the full artillery system of the Finnish Army: target acquisition, command and control, ammunition logistics and sustained fire under cold, wet and low-visibility weather. Rather than simply firing guns on fixed ranges, the scenario focuses on how quickly headquarters can concentrate effects from dispersed batteries, how reliably digital fire-control networks link observers and guns, and how different calibres and systems can be combined to achieve tactical and operational objectives. For the conscripts due to complete their service in December, it is the most significant live-fire event of their training; for the Finnish command, it is a large-scale rehearsal of wartime procedures in terrain and weather that closely mirror an actual northern crisis.
The Polish contribution, though numerically small, carries significant operational and strategic weight. Two Homar-K launchers from the 1st Masurian Artillery Brigade have been deployed to Finland as a heavy rocket battery of roughly forty personnel. The move is unprecedented: it is the first time these systems have been airlifted abroad, using Antonov An-124 aircraft based in Leipzig under the NATO SALIS strategic transport framework. Homar-K combines the flexible launcher architecture of the Chunmoo system with a Polish 8×8 truck chassis and national fire-control, capable of firing guided rockets to around 80 kilometres and, depending on the load-out, tactical ballistic missiles to nearly 300 kilometres. Bringing such a capability into Lapland demonstrates that heavy rocket artillery, not just infantry or light vehicles, can be moved rapidly to reinforce a northern ally, plugged into its command networks and sustained in harsh climate conditions far from Polish territory.
Finland’s own artillery capabilities provide the backbone of the exercise. The country maintains one of the largest artillery forces in Western Europe, built around a mix of self‑propelled howitzers such as the K9 Thunder, modernized 122 mm and 152 mm towed guns, 120 mm heavy mortars, and multiple launch rocket systems including RM‑70 and upgraded BM‑21 Grad platforms, all integrated by modern counter‑battery radars and digital fire‑control networks. Finland also fields 155 mm artillery pieces like the GH‑52 howitzer, alongside domestically produced ammunition stocks that have been expanded through new factories to ensure sustained wartime supply. Years of investment in reserve training and conscription enable Helsinki to generate substantial artillery manpower in a crisis, and regular drills at Rovajärvi ensure that gunners are accustomed to operating in deep snow, forests and sub‑Arctic temperatures. Since joining NATO in 2023, Finland has combined this firepower with enhanced border defences, new infrastructure in the north and the establishment of a NATO land headquarters in Mikkeli, turning the long eastern frontier from a national concern into a shared alliance responsibility. Northern Strike 225 illustrates how this artillery mass, ranging from precision‑guided K9 Thunder batteries to legacy Grad launchers, can now be integrated with allied systems such as Homar‑K to create a layered fires network across the Nordic and Baltic region.
Geostrategically, the exercise sends a clear message about speed, reach and cohesion. The rapid arrival of Polish launchers by strategic airlift shows that NATO can reinforce Finland’s northern sector with long-range precision fires at short notice, complicating any potential adversary’s planning along the Finnish-Russian border and towards the Kola Peninsula. Militarily, the presence of Homar-K forces both armies to address practical interoperability questions: harmonising firing procedures, ensuring secure and compatible communications, coordinating deconfliction with air operations and managing the resupply of high-end rockets under demanding weather and terrain conditions. Each of these steps moves the alliance closer to a truly integrated artillery posture, in which guns and rockets from different nations can be concentrated and coordinated as a single tool of deterrence.
Finland’s Northern Strike 225 exercise and Poland’s deployment of Homar-K launchers transform Lapland from a remote training ground into a showcase of NATO’s evolving northern deterrent. The number of foreign launchers involved may be limited, but their arrival, integration and employment alongside Finland’s powerful artillery demonstrate a new level of readiness and cohesion on the alliance’s longest land border with Russia. Any attempt to test that frontier would now face not just Finnish resistance, but a rapidly assembled coalition of long-range guns and rockets capable of striking deep, under harsh conditions, with a degree of coordination that has been painstakingly built and rehearsed in exercises like this one.
Written by Teoman S. Nicanci – Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group
Teoman S. Nicanci holds degrees in Political Science, Comparative and International Politics, and International Relations and Diplomacy from leading Belgian universities, with research focused on Russian strategic behavior, defense technology, and modern warfare. He is a defense analyst at Army Recognition, specializing in the global defense industry, military armament, and emerging defense technologies.