The Lithuanian Armed Forces and State Border Guard Service conducted Exercise Unified Response 25 in the Baltic Sea together earlier this week honing incident response with an integrated forces of different units and tackling different scenarios. The drills are necessary for improving security of critical infrastructure and rapid response to potential damage, including detention of those suspected accountable for the damage.
According to Commander Lithuanian Navy RDML Giedrius Premeneckas, “the security situation of today calls for constant vigilance and readiness. The critical undersea infrastructure is vitally important to Lithuanian and regional security, therefore Exercise Unified Response 25 is a format to improve our cooperation with the other institutions and effectively respond to any type of threats.”
The drills simulated different scenarios, including one involving a civilian ship approaching the territorial sea of Lithuania against the international rules of safe navigation to breach into the critical infrastructure security zone and engage in suspicious activities in the whereabouts of the NordBalt power link cable. Another simulated scenario challenged the participants to deal with a violator ship in the exclusive economic zone whose crew refuses to follow instructions and puts up an armed resistance.
The national exercise Unified Response involved members of the Navy, Air Force, Special Operations Forces, Coastal Security Border Unit and Pagėgiai Border Team of the Special Purpose Division, State Border Guard Service. Such an inclusive exercise trains all responsible institutions to act in coordination and effectively and to field-test their algorithms ahead of a potential incident involving the undersea infrastructure of anything else.
The exercise is a component of the Baltic states’ readiness for disconnection from the BRELL power grid: leaving the Russian-run energy system and synchronization with the continental Europe is the strategic goal of Lithuania and the entire Baltic region, therefore security of power infrastructure, including undersea cables, against potential threats is a special priority.
It is noteworthy, that there has been an increase of undersea infrastructure damage in the Baltic Sea which calls for ways to fortify the security in the region. The recently established NATO enhanced vigilance activity Baltic Sentry encompasses NATO capabilities engaging in different ways of prevention and rapid response on land, in the air and at sea.
Photo credits: Lithuanian Armed Forces
