Norway lesson from training Ukraine: "We are not prepared. No Western country's prepared…"

NATO marines in Arctic warfare gear during exercises in Norway
Photo: Military Watch Magazine

One of the big lessons that NATO member Norway has learned from training Ukraine to fight Russia's invasion is that it cannot afford to get bogged down in this sort of war, its officers say.

The big lesson for Norway's armed forces is that they need to prepare to prevent any conflict from turning into the kind of slog playing out in Ukraine, military officials heading up Operation Legio, the multinational, Norway-led training effort for Ukrainian soldiers, told Business Insider.

Maj. John, the S3 Operations Officer in charge of synchronizing the overall training operation, said, "I think the most important thing for Norway as a small nation is to avoid getting into that situation where we are now, with static, attritional warfare."

Brigadier Atle Molde, the commander overseeing Task Force Legio, told Business Insider that "the most important lesson learned is: Don't end up in a situation where Ukraine has to fight for their survival for years and years and years, taking thousands and thousands of casualties. Be prepared."

That means being prepared on a whole-society level. Right now, he said, "we are not prepared. No Western country's prepared."

Part of that essential preparation means having the right technology and tactics, which means taking only the applicable lessons from the war in Ukraine and passing on those that aren't or that Ukraine is employing out of a lack of better options.

It's about being prepared from the society level down to preparing a single soldier to take down a drone with a shotgun, "and everything in between," Molde said.

Norway is a NATO ally, meaning it has the protection provided by collective defense obligations, but it needs to focus on how it can maintain dynamic warfare, John said, using "air defense technologies that Ukraine is world-class on," as well as counter-drone systems and electronic warfare measures to make sure that its mechanized units can still move. "We are still a mechanized army."

Ukraine has developed cutting-edge battlefield technology and equipment that allies are studying closely, but many of those capabilities emerged only after the war had already settled into a grinding, static fight.

Both sides have built deep defenses, swarms of drones are constantly watching the battlefield, and it has become difficult to mass equipment and infantry for large-scale maneuvers. The area that now surrounds the front line is regularly described as a "kill zone."

NATO's Future Force Study in June said that forces need to prepare to maintain the ability to maneuver even under heavy observation. Many officials still warn that heavy attrition could be inevitable and that militaries must also be capable of surviving a prolonged, Ukraine-style conflict.