“The NATO enhanced Forward Presence Battle Group Lithuania has turned five. We can see clearly by now how necessary and important the decision to deploy such battle groups in the Baltic states and Poland was. The NATO Battalion in Lithuania is an obvious piece of evidence of allied unity and solidarity and of allied collective defence commitment,” said Minister of National Defence Arvydas Anušauskas at the ceremony marking the NATO eFP Lithuania 5th anniversary on February 9 at Rukla.
In attendance at the ceremony and congratulating the allied forces for the fifth year on the ground in Lithuania were President of the Republic of Lithuania HE Gitanas Nausėda, NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoană, Chairman of the NATO Military Committee Admiral Rob Bauer. Former President of the Republic Of Lithuania HE Dalia Grybauskaitė, heads of Ministries of Defence and Chiefs of Defence of the allies, representatives of foreign Ministries of Defence, Ambassadors and Defence Attachés, former commanders of the NATO enhanced Forward Presence Battalion Battle Group, and other guests, were also present.
The guests viewed a static display of Lithuanian Armed Forces and NATO eFP Battalion Battle Group equipment deployed at Rukla. A monument for the NATO eFP Battalion was unveiled with the Lithuanian Armed Forces Band and the Honor Guard Company. After unveiling the monument with Chief of Defence of Germany Gen Eberhard Zorn, Chief of Defence Lt Gen Valdemaras Rupšys said common values, mutual trust and cooperation to the end of security for our countries, NATO and the world was the thing to celebrate on the occasion.
“I would rather not draw a distinction between the battle group commanders here among us or the Chiefs of Defence here today. Every male and female soldier are doing all they can to advance our common mission every day. That is precisely what this monument will remind us about,” Chief of Defence said.
During the ceremony the NATO enhanced Forward Presence Battle Group also underwent an official rotation and change of command. The 11th multinational rotation will be led by Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Andrä. Germany, the framework nation, is the largest contributor to the Battle Group, with Belgium, the Czech Republic, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Norway also contributing troops.
The decision to deploy NATO enhanced Forward Presence Battalion-sized Battle Groups in the Baltic states and Poland was made by all NATO states at the NATO Summit in Warsaw in July 2016, in response to the Russian aggression in Ukraine and the changed security environment in the region. This highly capable multinational combat capability is a significant and long-term contribution of the Allies to strengthening the security of the region.
Members of the NATO eFP Battle Group which is integrated into the Lithuanian Armed Forces Mechanized Infantry Brigade Iron Wolf are constantly on an active training, honing interoperability with the Lithuanian Armed Forces in all major exercise in Lithuania. Joint NATO eFP Battle Group and Lithuanian Armed Forces exercises have huge mutual value – Lithuanian troops gain wide spectrum operational planning skills, improve tactical abilities to operate in multinational environment and become familiar with state-of-the-art weaponry, while foreign military familiarize thoroughly with the operational environment in the eastern flank of NATO.
The most recent data shows that 89% of Lithuanian population have a favorable of view of Lithuania membership in NATO, 88% support allied presence in the country’s territory, and 78% of population agree that deployment of the NATO eFP Battalion Battle Group in Lithuania helps to deter hostile states. According to A. Anušauskas, that is the best positive evaluation of the long, consistent and hard work of Lithuania and our allies possible.
Since the deployment of the NATO enhanced Forward Presence Battle Group Lithuania, over 15 thousand troops from 9 NATO allies have already trained in Lithuania in biannual rotations. Allies that rotated in military personnel to Lithuania over the 5 years are Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Croatia, Luxembourg and Iceland. They also brought along approx. 6,000 military vehicles. Combat capability enforcement is added at Rukla depending on the need. One rotation numbers up to 1,200 troops, 600 of them are currently contributed by Germany with another 350 German military personnel set to arrive soon.
Photo credits: A.Pliadis
