Joint Force Command Norfolk announced on X between 8:16 p.m. and 9:16 p.m. UTC on January 18, 2026, that the United Kingdom's Commando Helicopter Force ramped up Operation Clockwork in northern Norway over the past hour, with pilots, observers, and engineers testing arctic survival and mobility skills alongside Norwegian counterparts to prepare for Exercise Cold Response 2026. The training includes navigating and surviving extreme cold weather conditions while conducting intensive helicopter operations over Norway's fjords and mountains, as stated by JFC Norfolk, which emphasized the activity demonstrates NATO's ability to deter and defend the High North. The post tagged accounts from the Royal Marines, Royal Navy, Commando Ops, and Norwegian Forsvaret. This follows reports earlier on January 18 of troops from France, Norway, the United Kingdom, and Sweden conducting military exercises in Greenland, where they met Joint Arctic Command commander Major General Søren Andersen, according to the Danish armed forces Forsvaret cited in prior updates. In a separate development over the same period, an X post by @bayraktar_1love stated that nuns from the St. Elisabeth Convent, originally based in Belarus, embedded in 20 churches in Sweden and worked for Russian intelligence while raising funds for the Russian army under the guise of a charity.
