Can the Nordic Model Save NATO?

A Swedish soldier during a military exercise in Kungsangen, Sweden, April 2026 Tom Little / Reuters MATTI PESU is Senior Research Fellow in the Finland and Northern European Security Research Program at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs. Share & Download Print unlock this feature or Sign in. Save Sign in and save to read later Copy This is a subscriber-only feature. or Sign in. Chicago MLA APSA APA Chicago Cite not available at the moment MLA Cite not available at the moment APSA Cite not available at the moment APA Cite not available at the moment Request reprint permissions here. Only after Russia’s 2014 invasion of Ukraine did some Nordic countries begin to see cooperation as a security imperative, not just a way to save money. Finland and Sweden launched a no-limits military partnership that included joint wartime planning. And Norway, despite maintaining its NATO-first approach, gradually embraced operational cooperation with its two non-NATO neighbors in times of crisis. By 2020, when the countries signed a trilateral statement of intent, they were conducting extensive joint exercises, sharing intelligence on common threats, and discussing their national defense plans with an eye toward coordinated crisis response. Any remaining limits on Nordic military cooperation evaporated once Finland and Sweden joined NATO following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, in 2022. The region’s five countries agreed that Moscow posed an urgent security threat to themselves and to Europe as a whole. Even Denmark, which was previously reticent about regional collaboration, warmed to collective defense efforts. In 2023, it joined Finland, Norway, and Sweden in developing the Nordic Airpower Concept, which will give them the ability to fight as one force with their combined 250 advanced fighter aircraft. Denmark has also pledged to contribute personnel to the Swedish-led Forward Land Forces Finland, the NATO battle group that rotates between northern Finland and Sweden. When Denmark served as chair of NORDEFCO in 2024, the five governments also signed NORDEFCO Vision 2030, which outlines their ambition for joint operations that are aligned with both national and NATO defense interests. To support the logistical underpinnings of land force cooperation, the initiative established a seamless, borderless Nordic military mobility corridor. A division of labor is now emerging: Finland commands regional land operations, Norway hosts the regional headquarters for air operations, and Sweden is becoming the logistics hub and transit area for joint military operations in northern Europe. Denmark, for its part, hosts a regional headquarters for special operations.