Delegations of the Ministries of Defence and the Armed Forces of Belgium and Luxembourg will observe international Exercise Baltic Piranha in Lithuania on October 22-23. On the first day of the visit the delegations will meet with Belgian and Luxembourg's military personnel in Jonava and at Gaižiūnai Training Area (Rukla) training at the exercise in Lithuania since the beginning of October. On the second day of the visit, October 23, Chiefs of Defence and Defence Ministers will meet at the Ministry of National Defence to discuss significant issues on NATO and the EU agendas and prospects of bilateral-trilateral.
During the visit in Lithuania the Belgian delegation will be headed by the country's Minister of Defence Steven H. M. Vandeput and Chief of Defence General Gérard Van Caelenberge, and Luxembourg's delegation will be led by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Étienne Schneider and Chief of Staff of Luxembourg General Romain Mancinelli. On the Lithuanian side, delegations led by Minister of Foreign Affairs Linas Linkevičius, Vice Minister of National Defence Antanas Valys and Chief of Defence Lieutenant General Jonas Vytautas Žukas will meet with the guests.
Over 300 troops from Belgium and Luxembourg together with soldiers from Lithuania and the United States, the total of roughly 500 military personnel and 130 units of military materiel, are training in Exercise Baltic Piranha across various locations in Lithuania since the beginning of October.
The participating troops were training stability operations and other joint actions at Gaižiūnai Training Area and districts of Jonava, Ukmergė and Širvintos for the past two weeks, since kicking off the exercise in Klaipėda on October 4. Later the exercise will move to Pabradė Training Area where soldiers will train defensive and offensive operations.
Among other things, Exercise Baltic Piranha trains Rapid Response Force of the Belgian Armed Forces. This is the first deployment of a combat group of the Belgian Land Component to an exercise in Lithuania. In the meanwhile, the platoon-sized contingent from Luxembourg (roughly 30 members) is training in an exercise in Lithuania for the second.
Soldiers from Belgium and Luxembourg have been deployed to Lithuania as part of the assurance measures agreed at the NATO Summit in Wales last year.
Credits: Ieva Budzeikaitė; archival photos of the Lithuanian Armed Forces and the Belgian Armed Forces
Media is invited to take part in Distinguished Visitors and Media Day of Exercise Baltic Piranha
Media representatives willing to attend DV Day events during Exercise Baltic Piranha in the city of Jonava and at Gaižiūnai Training Area as well as to interview Lithuania's, Belgium's and Luxembourg's supreme military leadership on October 22, should contact PAO for the Lithuanian Land Force Captain Andrius Dilda by e-mail dilda.andrius@gmail.com or phone no. 00370 640 45 380 until 16:00 on October 21.
The Lithuanian Land Force will provide a limited transport capability for media representatives willing to go to Jonava from Vilnius. Please register with Captain Andrius Dilda (Lithuanian Land Force).
Programme
12:55 Arrival in Jonava (Skarulių str. 53) (Attention: there will be traffic limitations);
13:00-13:15 Presentation of the exercise (in English);
13:15-14:00 1st dynamic display in Jonava. A short interview opportunity with foreign guests (in English) and Lithuanian representatives;
14:00-14:15 Going to Gaižiūnai Training Area;
14:20-15:30 2nd dynamic display (offensive operation by the combined force);
15:30-16:00 Communication with participating soldiers, opportunity to view the equipment, interview opportunity static display;
16:00-16:30 Going back from Gaižiūnai Training Area to Jonava (Skarulių str. 53).
