First exercise with tanks at P 18 in 21 years

Gotland regiment (P 18) – 24 September 2021 kl: 13.35
Archived news

"A tank regiment should have its tanks”. Ulf Hamberg, head of the 181st Tank Battalion, is content as he comments the first exercise with tanks at P 18 in 21 years.

Stridsvagn på Gotland
Stridsvagn på Gotland
First exercise with tanks at P 18 in 21 years. Photo: Swedish Armed Forces

The new Gotland Regiment has now started reconstructing the tank capability after a twenty-year gap. Next year’s conscript training will focus on tanks and in 2025, the tank company Lärbro will be fully manned.

”The tanks are a considerable reinforcement of the capability of my unit. We have now secured the capability needed for training the next generation, starting next summer” says Ulf Hamberg, head of the 181st Tank Battalion.

During an exercise in the last two weeks of September, the tanks were reintroduced as part of the battalion and 20 September, the Gotland Regiment exercised live-firing with tanks for the first time since May 2000. The tanks were partly manned by temporarily employed personnel trained in Skövde, with wartime postings in Gotland.