Over a 100 US Marines arrived in Klaipėda, Lithuania with equipment to take part in intense indirect fire support specialists' training of May 14.
Annual indirect live fire exercise Flaming Thunder is beginning for the sixth year on May 14 at General Silvestras Žukauskas Training Area in Pabradė (Švenčionių district) and Gaižiūnai Training Area (Jonava district). The exercise will run until May 25 training over 1,200 participants to deliver live fire at land and waterborne targets from indirect fire support equipment during the light and dark parts of the day.
Part of the training audience will be redeployed to Brigadier General Povilas Plechavičius Training Area (Klaipėda district) where live fire will be rehearsed and training arranged using land force, air force and navy equipment for the first time during a Flaming Thunder exercise. Live fire from land positions and using 76 mm OTO-MELARA cannons from aboard Navy ships will be delivered at targets in the sea installed at the distance of up to 22 kilometres. Combined fire from naval, air and land equipment will be delivered at targets in the sea.
Exercise Flaming Thunder 2018 will involve over 1,200 soldiers from 9 NATO allies (US, Canada, Croatia, Latvia, Poland, Lithuania, the Netherlands, France, and Germany). It will be the first participation for Canada, deploying from the NATO enhanced Forward Presence Battalion Battle Group in Latvia, and for Croatia and France - from the NATO eFP Battle Group in Rukla.
Objective of Flaming Thunder 2018 is to enhance skills and assess indirect fire support units' ability to complete live fire tasks effectively, and to provide conditions for cooperation among indirect fire support units from NATO allies.
Photo credits: Lithuanian Land Force
