On April 24-25 Chief of Defence of Lithuania Lt Gen Jonas Vytautas Žukas attended a meeting of the Baltic Military Committee at Chiefs of Defence level in Estonia. Chiefs of Defence and representatives of Defence Staffs of the Baltic states addressed topical security and military cooperation matters in the Baltic region at the event.
The first day of the meeting saw Chiefs of Defence discuss military command and control challenges in the region, operation results and way ahead of the Baltic Combined Joint Staff Element (B-CJSE) - an instrument to coordinate the countries' armed defence planning, trilateral cooperation of the Land Forces and the Special Operations Forces, major NATO and other international exercises to be held in the region in 2019 and 2020, while gathered at the Viru Infantry Battalion in the town of Jõhvi. Also, positions were exchanged concerning the NATO Readiness Initiative.
At lunch working session a teleconference was held - the Baltic Chiefs of Defence, Chief of Defence of Poland Lt Gen Rajmund Andrzejczak and Lieutenant General Slawomir Wojciechovski, Commander of the NATO Multinational Corps Northeast HQ in Szczecin, Poland, discussed major collective defence issues in the region against the backdrop of NATO defence planning.
On April 25 Lt Gen J. V. Žukas and Chief of Defence of Estonia Maj Gen Martin Herem and Chief of Defence of Latvia Lt Gen Leonids Kalninš continued the work in the Estonian Defence League (Estonian: Kaitseliit) unit in Narva. The Generals discussed trilateral cooperation of the countries' Navies and Air Forces, plans and activities of the Baltic Defence College.
Major ongoing trilateral Lithuanian-Latvian-Estonian defence cooperation projects are: the Baltic Defence College (BALTDEFCOL) - at the Ministries of Defence and the Armed Forces level, the Baltic Battalion (BALTBAT) - at the Land Forces level, the Baltic Air Surveillance Network (BALTNET) - at the Air Forces level, and the Baltic Naval Squadron (BALTRON) - at the Navies level.
The Baltic Military Committee meets twice a year on a rotational basis, once at Chiefs of Defence level, and at Chiefs of Defence Staffs level the other time.
Photo credit: SSgt Ardi Hallismaa
Spokesperson for the Chief of Defence of Lithuania Maj Mindaugas Neimontas, +370 5 278 5091, +370 682 25359, mindaugas.neimontas@mil.lt
