On June 8 international Exercise Saber Strike 15 was declared open concurrently in Latvia and Lithuania.
At the opening ceremony Chief of Defence of Latvia Lieutenant General Raimonds Graube expressed his appreciation of the visibly increased number of participants, the significance of the exercise for regional security, and the great opportunity it gave for honing interoperability.
"Contingencies call for excellent interoperability and cooperation which is what we can achieve only by learning together," Lieutenant General R. Graube said.
The opening parade in Latvia's Adazi Training Area was formed by soldiers of Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, United Kingdom and the United States.
The part of Saber Strike in Latvia trains roughly 1,000 soldiers who have joined in with their equipment and weaponry.
The Field Training Exercise of Saber Strike 15 held in the Adazi Training Area in Latvia will also certify the Baltic Battalion (BALTBAT) which is preparing for standby for the NATO Response Force (NRF) in 2016. BALTBAT formed by Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian militaries is a combined Baltic contribution to the NATO Response Force. Lithuania's input into BALTBAT is a company and a headquarters element of King Mindaugas Hussar Battalion.
***
Saber Strike is an annual exercise held by the U.S. Army Europe in the Baltic States. Saber Strike 15 is the fifth iteration of the series held in Lithuania. The part of the exercise in Lithuania will involve roughly 1.6 thousand Lithuanian military and 1.5 thousand troops from 9 NATO countries - Canada, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Latvia, Portugal, Slovenia, and the USA.
Roughly 1 thousand of Portuguese, US and German military personnel have brought an impressive arsenal of military armament for the FTX in Lithuania: the ABRAMS tanks, the STRYKER, the BOXER, the PANDUR and the FUCHS wheeled armoured personnel carriers and the EAGLE IV and the DINGO II armoured reconnaissance vehicles.
Photo credits: Captain Paulius Babilas and Pte 1st Class Vilius Džiavečka.
POC - Captain Paulius Babilas
Email: paulius.babilas@gmail.com
