{"id":34380,"date":"2020-03-11T13:43:36","date_gmt":"2020-03-11T13:43:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2020\/03\/11\/major-arctic-exercise-canceled-over-coronavirus-fears\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T03:12:53","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T03:12:53","slug":"major-arctic-exercise-canceled-over-coronavirus-fears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/training-sim\/2020\/03\/11\/major-arctic-exercise-canceled-over-coronavirus-fears\/","title":{"rendered":"Major Arctic military exercise canceled over coronavirus fears"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Norwegian authorities have canceled the remaining portion of a large scale Arctic exercises dubbed Cold Response over coronavirus<\/a> fears, U.S. European Command announced Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe decision is a precautionary measure in response to the ongoing outbreak of COVID-19<\/a> and to protect the health and safety of all participants and local population,\u201d EUCOM said. COVID-19 is the official name for the illness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe health of our force continues to be a top priority and we are committed to maintaining mission readiness,\u201d EUCOM said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cold Response kicked off in Norway on March 9 and was slated to run through March 18. The exercise included roughly 15,000 troops from the U.S., Norway and eight other allied countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roughly 1,500 U.S. troops were scheduled to participate in the Arctic exercise from all four service branches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stars and Stripes <\/a>reported on March 6 that nearly two dozen soldiers in Norway for the Cold Response exercise were being held in quarantine over COVID-19 fears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Officials from EUCOM did not immediately respond to requests for information about the status of those troops.<\/p>\n\n\n\t