 Military winter service vehicles have been used by the United Nations, Kosovo Force, and the US Army in Central Europe during the Kosovo War, while during the Cold War, the Royal Marines and Royal Corps of Signals deployed a number of tracked vehicles in Norway to patrol the NATO border with the Soviet Union.Winter service vehicles are operated by both government agencies and by private subcontractors.Public works in areas which regularly receive snowfall usually maintain a fleet of their own vehicles or pay retainers to contractors for priority access to vehicles in winter, while cities where snow is a less regular occurrence may simply hire the vehicles as needed.