The borderguard coy is based at 6 different borderguard stations along the 196KM
long Norwegian/Russian border. The administration is based in the base camp, together
with the support units. The mission is to prevent illegal border crossings both ways, and
accomplishes that trough continuous observation from 10 constantly manned OP towers, and with foot, vehicle and boat patrols along the line. This is the
civilian/police part of the mission, and takes a lot of resources. The military mission is to observe visible
Russian military activity, with both visual aids and radar. Today the company is partially motorized, but the army is introducing a fully
motorized concept to fit the maneuver oriented tactics of the regiment, and to meet the swift
movement of an modern army. The vast distances in the coy area of responsibility
also dictates the need for the coy to become more mobile.
During the winter the soldiers move on snowmobiles, BV206 and on foot. The Bell 412SP
stationed at the garrison also provide a lot of transport support, due to the total lack of roads some places. This becomes even more important during summer
when the terrain is more difficult to negotiate due to rocky and swamp terrain.
Service in the borderguards demand soldiers that are independent and innovative,
because they serve unsupervised at remote positions maybe 20Km from the closest NCO or officer. Each station varies in size, from 18 to 40 soldiers, and
they are organized in 4 man patrols assigned to different OPs or patrol duty on a rotation basis. In a war scenario the 4 man patrol will mostly team up
to form 8 man squads capable of splitting to perform 2 separate missions. Some of the stations use dogs in the peace time patrols, and each 6 months before
rotation to the borderguards a group of jägers are sent to the military dog handler
academy. The dogs are also a good resource in a war scenario.
The borderguards has a very important mission, and after the break up of the east block, the number of attempted
border crossings has increased due to the less rigid control on the other side of the border, together with a increased
flow of refugees from 3rd countries. This situation has demanded a increase in funding to the unit, and during
the next couple of years a lot of equipment and skills will be introduced to the
jägers.
Boat patrol on the Passvik border river.
Jägers on ski patrol, Russia in the background. Note Russian fence at the river bank.