On November 15 Chief of Defence of Lithuania Lieutenant General Jonas Vytautas Žukas met with Defence Attaché to Lithuania of the Kingdom of Sweden Lieutenant Colonel Örjan Strom to discuss security situation and military cooperation.
Lt Gen J. V. Žukas thanked Sweden for a long-standing support to the Lithuanian Armed Forces that lasts over 20 years, and for goodwilled cooperation in bilateral and multiple multilateral formats (NATO, NB8, NORDEFCO).
At the meeting Lithuanian Chief of Defence invited Sweden to expand bilateral military cooperation between both countries navies. He pointed out the need to exchange maritime situational pictures, put forward the possibility of inviting BALTRON (Baltic Squadron) to take part in SWE HODOPS, an unexploded ammunition neutralisation operation held in the territorial waters of Sweden, and to provide training for operators of the sonars the Lithuanian Navy is procuring in Sweden. Chief of Defence also invited Sweden to hold a real-life scenario-based international exercise which would concern Gotland, an island significant to the Baltic region defence, in the future.
Based in Vilnius, Lt Col Örjan Strom was appointed to the current position on July 28. Lithuania's Defence Attaché to Sweden in based in Copenhagen (Denmark).
Lithuanian-Swedish defence cooperation
Prior to Lithuania's NATO accession, defence cooperation between Lithuania and Sweden focused on Sweden's assistance to the Lithuanian Armed Forces. Weaponry and equipment was transferred, projects of medical assistance, fitting up sea and coastal surveillance system, air defence battalion, and air base, to name but a few, were completed, and Lithuanian officers studied at Swedish military education institutions.
The present-day cooperation between Lithuanian and Swedish militaries is developed at unit level, with the closest cooperation ongoing between air, maritime and military medical services. Bilateral cooperation programmes are coordinated at staff level each year.
Sweden's and Lithuanian navies train in various joint exercises in the Baltic region: Host Nation Support Exercise Baltic Host, Mine Countermeasures Exercise in the Baltic Sea Open Spirit. In 2011 Swedish Air Force JAS-39 Gripen fighter aircraft took part in a Baltic Regional Training Event (BRTE) (since 2016, Baltic Alloy) held by the Allied Air Command in Rammstein alongside NATO equipment to ensure security of the airspace over the Baltic Sea. The Swedish Air Force has been a regular participant of those training events. In the first semester of 2015 Lithuanian soldiers performed standby for the Swedish-led European Union Battle Group (EU BG).
Sweden is also an active participant in the Baltic Defence College (BALTDEFCOL) activities: it was the lead nation from 1997-2003, while at present Swedish students attend lectures at the Baltic Defence College. When financing and heading of the Baltic Defence College was passed to the Baltic states, Sweden remained a close partner and a sponsor. Over 100 civilians and soldiers of Lithuania have undergone training, apprenticeship and refresher courses at Swedish military education institutions.
Both countries take part proactively in the Nordic-Baltic Regional Defence Cooperation Initiative working to support defence and security reforms in Georgia and Ukraine.
On 9 June 2011 in Brussels the Lithuanian and the Swedish Ministers of Defence endorsed a bilateral agreement on defence cooperation which outlined objectives and principles areas and forms of the cooperation, etc. In the recent year the two countries' Chiefs of Defence and Ministers of Defence exchanged formal visits.
Spokesperson for the Chief of Defence Captain Mindaugas Neimontas
Contacts: 00370 5 278 5091, 00370 682 25359, mindaugas.neimontas@mil.lt
Credit: Captain M. Neimontas
