OSLO, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- The first shipload of military equipment arrived in Norway during the past weekend in preparation for a massive NATO exercise this autumn, the Norwegian Armed Forces said on Monday.

About 40,000 soldiers from more than 30 countries are expected to take part in exercise Trident Juncture -- NATO's largest military exercise since 2002 -- this autumn. The live training will be conducted from Oct. 25 to Nov. 7.

Around 130 aircraft, 70 vessels and up to 10,000 vehicles will be used during the exercise, according to the Norwegian Armed Forces.

The first military materiel and vehicles arrived in Andalsnes in western Norway on Saturday. The equipment arrived with the Italian cargo vessel Capucine, the Norwegian military said in a statement.

"Trident Juncture is vital for Norway's defense capability. Our military forces get valuable training along with our allies," Lieutenant General Rune Jakobsen, chief of the Norwegian Armed Forces' Joint Headquarters, was quoted as saying.

"But equally important is to test our ability to receive reinforcements from NATO," he said.

The exercise will take place in central and eastern Norway and the surrounding areas of the North Atlantic and the Baltic Sea, including Iceland and the airspace of Finland and Sweden.