Background
Cold Response is a major NATO exercise conducted in the Arctic and Nordic region to strengthen collective defense, led by Norway. In 20026 it involved over 32,000 personnel operating across land, air and maritime domains.
Challenge
Support the Norwegian Land Warfare Centre in managing large-scale observation and validation across a highly distributed and harsh environment.
Solution
Exonaut Collective Training & Exercise Management was used to capture observations and support validation across the land component, alongside support to the UK Royal Navy. A hybrid setup enabled secure data capture from mobile devices and synchronization across multiple locations.
Benefits
Exonaut enabled scalable data collection across a complex environment, supporting over 50 observers and 100 subject matter experts. Rapid reporting provided timely insights to support performance evaluation and decision-making.
5000
Evauated troops
250
Objectives
9
Days
300+
Observations
50+
Observers
Multi-domain, multinational exercise
Cold Response is one of NATO’s largest recurring exercises, focused on demonstrating collective defense and strengthening operational capability. The exercise brings together land, air, and maritime forces to operate in demanding conditions across the Nordic region.
In 2026, the total exercise involved more than 32,500 personnel, including Norwegian forces and NATO coalition partners. The land component alone included thousands of Norwegian soldiers – from three brigades and division headquarters – alongside 10,000 coalition troops, operating across the Arctic Circle and dispersed locations spanning Norway, Finland, and the Swedish border.
4C Strategies supported the exercise through two parallel Exonaut deployments. One supported the UK Royal Navy in the maritime domain on the waters surrounding Norway, while the second focused on the Norwegian Army land component, which was delivered in partnership with the Norwegian Land Warfare Centre. In total around 5,000 tropps were evaluated using Exonaut on land and at sea.
Scaling the exercise
Originally planned as a battalion-level activity, the land component was expanded into a divisional-level exercise, significantly increasing the scale of observation and validation requirements. This resulted in a substantial rise in the volume of data to be captured and assessed within Exonaut. The requirement for mobile data collection was also introduced, enabling observers distributed across the training area to record observations using mobile devices.
Managing distributed data collection
To securely meet these needs, a hybrid solution combining on-prem and secure remote server environments and satellite feeds was set up. Data collection was conducted across multiple locations, including Bardufoss in the Arctic Circle and the Norwegian Army School in Rena, over 1,300 km (800 miles) apart, as well as additional distributed sites across Northern Norway.
The remote server and satellite feed was established to support mobile data capture, enabling observations from personnel operating in the training area to be collected and integrated into the central system.
The solution supported data collection from over 50 ground observers and subject matter experts, covering 250+ objectives. Exonaut acted as the central platform for gathering, managing, and validating observation data, handling both classified and non-classified information flows.
Delivering insights at scale
Despite the scale and complexity of the exercise, Exonaut enabled efficient processing and analysis of large volumes of data. 22 entities received locally generated validation reports within hours of task completion, providing timely feedback to support performance evaluation. Thanks to the user-friendly dashboard in Exonaut, commanders were able to spot emerging training gaps during the exercise and act on them.
Sam Mann, 4C Strategies Exonaut Consultant explains, “As an agile organization we were able to manage the scale of the exercise changing to an army-wide exercise with a tenfold increase in personnel. Adapting the solution and introducing mobile data collection meant we could capture key exercise data and deliver meaningful outcomes for commanders to take evidence-based decisions mid exercise. This wouldn’t have be possible without Exonaut.”
Supporting delivery through partnership
The delivery was conducted in close collaboration with the Norwegian Land Warfare Centre, with 4C providing both Exonaut and expert support throughout the exercise. The rapid implementation of mobile data collection demonstrated the flexibility of the Exonaut platform and the responsiveness of the 4C team.
“Cold Response 2026 demonstrates how a structured, data-driven approach to exercise management can scale to support large, complex and highly distributed operations on demand. By enabling effective data collection and rapid validation, Exonaut helped provide the insights needed to strengthen readiness and increase deterrence across Norwegian and NATO forces,” he concludes.
Q & A
How do you maintain effective assessment as military exercises increase in scale and complexity?
Effective assessment at scale requires more than increasing the number of observers. Objectives, activities, observations and validation need to remain connected as the number of participating units, locations and training events grows. Without that structure, increasing the volume of data can make it harder, rather than easier, to build a coherent picture of performance.
During Cold Response, Exonaut provided a common environment for managing this process across more than 250 objectives as the land component expanded significantly in scale.
How do you turn exercise observations into evidence of performance?
Individual observations have limited value unless they can be connected to what the exercise is designed to test. Observations need to be structured against objectives, supported by evidence and validated before they can contribute to a reliable assessment of performance.
Exonaut supported this process during Cold Response by bringing distributed observations, objectives and validation into a common environment, enabling exercise staff to build a more consistent evidence base for performance assessment.
How can exercise data support decision-making during execution, not just after the exercise?
The value of exercise data becomes far greater if it can be utilized during as well as post exercise. Capturing and validating data throughout execution allows exercise staff to identify emerging patterns and training gaps while there is still an opportunity to act on them.
During Cold Response, 22 entities received locally generated validation reports within hours of task completion, while Exonaut dashboards enabled commanders to identify emerging training gaps during the exercise.
How can teams quickly adapt to changes in exercise scale and requirements?
Changes in exercise scope can affect training audiences, objectives, observers, data volumes and how information needs to be collected. The underlying exercise management approach therefore needs to accommodate change without losing the structure required for effective assessment.
When the Cold Response land component expanded from battalion to divisional level, Exonaut was the ideal solution to support the increased scale and requirement. Adding the mobile data collection capability to enable distributed observations to feed into the wider assessment process was achieved quickly and with little fuss.