Minister of National Defence Juozas Olekas, Chief of Defence of Lithuania Lieutenant General Arvydas Pocius and other representatives of the Ministry of National Defence and the Lithuanian Armed Forces will attend Distinguished Visitors and Media Day of NATO's Response Force exercise STEADFAST JAZZ 2013 on November 6 at Adazi Training Area, Latvia, together with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, President of the Republic of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė, and other distinguished visitors.
The Minister and the Chief of Defence will meet with Lithuanian troops participating in the mission, tour the headquarters of Allied Joint Force Command (JFC) deployed at Adazi Training Area, and observe command post training tasks.
Lithuania has delegated 10 staff officers and civilians as well as several additional troops to ensure NATO-Lithuania communications to the portion of the exercise at Adazi, Latvia, where the JFC HQ and exercise command element are deployed.
In total, STEADFAST JAZZ 2013 involves over 6 thousand participants from NATO members and partner states, approximately 300 of them - on Lithuania's behalf.
At Pabradės Training Range of the Lithuanian Armed Forces Lithuanian troops are ensuring support to an Italian Joint Special Forces Operations Headquarters. Several Lithuanian staff officers have been delegated to take part in the exercise from NATO's Joint Warfare Centre in Norway. The Lithuanian company (approximately 140 members) is involved in LIVEX from Drawsko Pomorskie Training Range, Poland, in composition of the multinational battalion (NATO Response Force, in other words). Lithuanian military assigned to NRF air control parties will join them.
STEADFAST JAZZ 2013 is aimed at training and certifying readiness of NATO's Response Force to respond to any threat in any part of the world or to engage in combat action. The exercise will also put to test readiness of NATO JFC Brunssum to lead joint NATO operations in 2014.
The NATO Response Force (NRF) is a highly ready and technologically advanced multinational NATO force manned by NATO member states on a rotational basis. NRF is composed of military units assigned by NATO member states which conduct high readiness stand-by in their permanent deployment locations and maintain readiness to deploy into the area of operations within a designated period of time in case a decision to activate the NRF was made. In such case the NRF rotation of stand-by would be able to deploy into the area of operations within five days. Political authorisation to use the NATO Response Force, formed from land, air, maritime and special forces components, is given by the North Atlantic Council.
As NATO gradually winds down the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) operation in Afghanistan, the NRF is crucial for maintaining NATO forces interoperable.
LITHUANIA'S MINISTRY OF NATIONAL DEFENCE
POINT OF CONTACT IN LATVIA
First Lieutenant Ieva GULBINIENĖ
Email: ieva.gulbiniene@gmail.com
Mobile: (+370) 686 00 655
More on STEADFAST JAZZ 2013: http://www.jfcbs.nato.int/jfcbrunssum/steadfast-jazz-13/overview.aspx
