NATO ends Dynamic Mongoose 2026. Last day of hunting submarines off the coast of Norway

Tomorrow, May 29, the Dynamic Mongoose 2026 – one of the most difficult naval exercises of the Alliance. For two weeks the waters off the coast of Norway were an arena of clashes which you can't see from the surface. Nine NATO states, submarines, frigates and marine patrol aircraft.

There is no room for error in the Norwegian Sea

Trondheim is not a random choice. The Norwegian Sea is a place where the Arctic meets the North Atlantic – and whereRussian shipsThe submarines have the shortest way to the full ocean. NATO exercises here every year because it knows that in the event of a major crisis, it is here that the game of moving troops and supplies from America to Europe will take place.

Submarine ships from Germany, the Netherlands and Portugal pursued each other for the following days – once as a hunter, once as a target. Such a reversal of roles is the core of these maneuvers. It's easier to hunt a submarine when you know how to hide.

Putin's fleet doesn't stand still.

Russia has been quietly expanding for years what you cannot see. Atomic ships improved project 955A with Bulawa-type ballistic missiles, capable of hitting targets thousands of kilometres from the firing site – all exit from bases on the Kolski Peninsula and disappear underwater. Where they then appear, NATO sometimes learns too late.

There is also something that was said cautiously a few years ago – a threat to the underwater critical infrastructure. Telecommunications cables, pipelines, offshore wind farms. Nord Stream's sabotage in 2022 ceased to be abstraction. Since then, similar scenarios have been permanently included in the NATO training program.

Poland looks from the shore

Last year's edition of Dynamic Mongoose Poland sentfrigate crayfishethomaORPGeneral Kazimierz Pulaski. The unit operated in the composition of NATO Permanent Maritime Group No 1, carrying out tasks of detecting and tracking underwater targets using subkilium sonar, towed hydroacoustic station and SH-2G helicopter equipped with hydroacoustic buoys. It is a major contribution to the water capabilities – but not underwater. Poland does not participate in the underwater game because there is nothing to participate in.

Orka submarine program He's gonna change that. Three submarines of typeA26Blekinge, working with Sweden, entering service around 2030. Only that our editorial board has been asking questions for a long time that nobody officially likes to hear – will Sweden deliver the units on time, since the construction of its own ships is dragging? And can a ship designed for the Baltic do well in the deeper waters of the North Atlantic?

Meanwhile, Poland – 770-kilometre coastline, the largest navy in the eastNATO flankand historical underwater traditions – still does not have a viable submarine. Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia never had submarines. Poland had – and it lost that ability.

Dynamic Mongoose 2026 comes to an end. In a year, the Alliance will be back in the same waters. The question is whether Poland will become an observer again.