Norwegian Navy starts exercise Flotex 22 with Denmark & Germany.

According to information published by the Norwegian Armed Forces on November 24, 2022, in the coming weeks, naval vessels and air units from several countries will train in maritime warfare in Norwegian waters as part of the exercise Flotex 22.
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Thetis-class ocean patrol vessel HDMS Vædderen. (Picture source: US Coast Guard)

Flotex 22 lasts from 21 November to 10 December, and high activity can therefore be expected both at sea and in the air during this period. From 25 to 27 November, several of the vessels will also have a port stay in Bodø.

The exercise is divided into several phases. From Monday 28 November, the level of activity will be increased, and this week several shooting exercises will be carried out in Andfjorden and Vågsfjorden which can be heard from shore.

The participating vessels are the frigates HNoMS Fridtjof Nansen, HNoMS Roald Amundsen, HNoMS Glimt, HNoMS Skjold, HNoMS Steil, HNoMS Storm, minesweeper HNoMS Måløy, and OPV HNoMS Nordkapp.

Allied units also participate – German maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) and the Danish ocean patrol vessel HDMS Vädderen.

About the HDMS Vädderen

HDMS (Her Danish Majesty's Ship) Vædderen (F359) is a Thetis-class ocean patrol vessel of the Royal Danish Navy. She is employed to exercise Danish sovereignty in waters around the Faroe Islands and Greenland.

The Thetis-class ocean patrol vessels or ocean patrol frigates, also called Stanflex 3000, is a class of large patrol vessels built for the Royal Danish Navy. The class comprises four ships, all built and commissioned in the early 1990s.

The ships each have double-skinned ice-reinforced hulls so that the ships can break through 80 centimetres (31 in) of solid ice. Thetis has undergone a conversion, first to participate in the CANUMAS-project, and later to become the fleet's flagship, a role that ended in September 2007.

Thetis is fitted with Terma C-Flex Combat Management System. The Danish Navy has retrofitted the vessels with 12.7-millimetre (0.50 in) heavy machine guns, Stinger launchers, and decoy launching systems. The ships can carry and use multiple StanFlex mission modules.

In the most common role (ocean patrol), the standard base crew is 47 people and 16 conscripts,[4] but in either command ship role or more warfare heavy roles, the base crew is expanded to 60 people plus 4 aircrew for the Westland Lynx Mk.90B and one or two doctors. Accommodation is available for 101 personnel in all.