While our erstwhile Editor was heading out to sunny Saudi Arabia your humble Gear Tester was in snowy Sweden for the Nordic Arctic Summit, writes Mike Gormley.
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We at JOINT-FORCES were privileged to be invited to attend the first Nordic Arctic Summit held in Sweden and I was delegated because Bob the Editor prefers hot and dusty over cold and snowy. The Summit was an idea conceived during a conversation between like-minded people who then set about to make it happen. And happen it most certainly did.
Taking things back just a few years, a cooperation between the Nordic countries of Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland was established to deal with the climatic problems associated with military personnel operating in Arctic conditions. These countries all have the same problems of operations in extreme cold and very harsh and difficult conditions, so it seemed sensible, perhaps obvious, to cooperate to conceive and produce clothing systems that would work for everyone. This did not mean to say they would all have exactly the same garments but it did mean the cooperation would help them to identify the real issues and to establish clothing systems that would work for them all. A lot of work both scientific and practical has been done and a few companies have worked to evolve suitable systems to enable safe and comfortable operation in very wide-ranging climates – both extreme cold and hot. This cooperation and result is now known as Nordic Combat Uniform (NCU) under the overall framework of what is designated NORDEFCO or Nordic Defence Cooperation. The base line of this cooperation is for all nations to have a similar, perhaps identical, clothing system yet retain their own individual camouflage systems and specific details suited to their particular needs.
This clothing system has been established around a layering system. For those familiar with operating outdoors in varying climatic conditions and levels of activity this really is not new and what has been achieved here with the NCU is for the four participating countries, and then a number of companies, to pool knowledge and resources to come up with systems that works.
We covered a great deal in the few days, so I am dividing my report into sections; here is an overview of what it was about and who was involved. More parts to follow along with some individual product reviews.
The Nordic Arctic Summit 2026 held in central Sweden during the first week of February was designed to showcase this co-operation and the results to a relatively small group of both journalists and potential end-users, as well as the companies that are involved in this project. This was no ordinary showcase. We did not have a few show stands in a warm cosy exhibition hall (not too subtle dig at the Editor) with various items of kit to look at. Oh No! We were invited to attend in the field and this meant travelling to the very heart of Sweden in full winter conditions. Taking the lead on all this was W.L.Gore (aka GORE-TEX) who broadly organised and planned this event in association with Woolpower, Aclima, Layers and Siamidis; the group of companies involved in this collaboration. These are not purely producers of military clothing but mostly have a much wider customer base, so all can draw on a wide range of differing end-user experiences.
We met and started our adventure in the town of Östersund. I use the term adventure as this it most certainly was, and intentionally so. The town has quite a small regional airport and on the approach, as the winter sun was setting, you could really only see snow-covered countryside in the evening glow. As soon as we stepped outside, we knew we were in the cold. The first coach I saw had studded tyres and a set of rally lights on the front! A few minutes out of the airport I saw a group of moose strolling across the snow. One could argue we were not actually in the Arctic as not quite above the Arctic Circle, but we were not so far south and for sure the cold Arctic weather came south to meet us. I am pleased to say I have had some experience of this type of environment over a lot of past years, with various visits to the Arctic and Antarctic, so was able to feel reasonably ‘at home’ in low temperatures, driving snowmobiles, walking on snowshoes and so on.
Our hotel was in the centre of the town, and all roads were snow-covered with the thermometer mostly around -20°C, so no doubting we were in ideal cold weather testing conditions. In our rooms we all had a duffle bag full of clothes. We had previously sent out sizes and all was good, apart from my footwear. And here lies a story which demonstrates how hard the organisers tried to make this event run to plan.
With extensive apologies for their ‘failure’ to obtain appropriate insulated military boots in my, admittedly unfeasibly large, size the story unfolded. They had started to seek an alternative but this, too, proved difficult even after searching local retailers… until a friend of a friend of one of the organisers recommended a small local-ish company about 35km away, Polyver of Sweden, that makes insulated boots. They produced a pair especially for me that very afternoon! They were perfect and the upside was the soles were excellent for gripping on the hard smooth snow as well as being warm. It was a very Swedish thing and set the scene for the time to come. All this sorted it was dinner and introductions, and the scene set for the days ahead.
To be continued…
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