Poland and Sweden hold first bilateral military drills in Baltic

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Poland and Sweden have launched their first bilateral military exercises, with the aim of “sending a clear signal of deterrence and readiness for joint defence” of the Baltic Sea.

The drills, titled Gotland Sentry, were announced on Monday by Poland’s defence minister, Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, who noted that they were the result of an agreement with Sweden signed earlier this month on defence cooperation, including joint operations in the Baltic.

“We are commencing the SNEX Gotland Sentry exercise – the first joint actions of this type by Poland and Sweden in history,” he wrote on social media. “Poland and Sweden together for the security of the Baltic.”

SNEX – standing for “short notice exercise” – is “one of the most demanding forms of military training, checking actual combat readiness”, said the operational command of Poland’s armed forces in a statement announcing the drills.

Such exercises are designed to give participants little time to prepare, thereby “testing their ability to execute tasks” with “high operational dynamism and an emphasis on command flexibility and interoperability”.

Gotland Sentry aims in particular to “demonstrate the ability of the Polish and Swedish armed forces to rapidly deploy dedicated components by air, sea, and land, as well as to refine collective defence procedures”, added the Polish operational command.

It noted that the exercises “are taking place in one of the most sensitive regions of Europe, the Baltic Sea, whose strategic importance is becoming crucial in the current security environment”. 

“Poland and Sweden are not only strengthening their military relations but also sending a clear signal of deterrence and readiness for joint defence within the regional security architecture…It is a demonstration of the unity, determination and readiness of Poland and Sweden to defend the Baltic region and its inhabitants.”

Poland was a strong supporter of Sweden’s accession to NATO, which was completed in 2024. Later that year, Warsaw and Stockholm signed a strategic partnership agreement to enhance cooperation on defence, economic development and support for Ukraine.

They also committed to bolstering security around the Baltic Sea in response to Russian aggression, including by stepping up NATO patrols in the region.

Earlier this month, after signing a new agreement to enhance defence cooperation, Swedish defence minister Pål Jonson hailed it as “an important step towards deepening technical and military cooperation, based on our shared ambitions for innovation in security and defence”.

Shortly afterwards, Sweden also reached a deal for to purchase Piorun man-portable air-defence systems from their Polish manufacturer for around 3 billion Swedish krona (1.2 billion zloty/€272 million/$321 million).

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Main image credit: Marek Borawski/KPRP

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.