Troops assigned to the 5th Battalion of the Belgian Army and a reconnaissance company from Luxembourg who came to Palanga Airport and their military equipment was brought to Klaipėda Seaport on October 1, began training in Exercise Baltic Piranha in Klaipėda district and General Povilas Plechavičius Training Area (Kairiai) together with Lithuanian and U.S. soldiers. The exercise which will be running till October 28 will train rapid response force of the Belgian Armed Forces, troops will hone conduct of stability operations and other joint actions.
The exercise will run across four locations: Kairiai Training Area (Klaipėda district) and surrounding territory, Kazlų Rūda Training Area (Marijampolė district), in Gaižiūnai and the area around the town of Jonava, and in Pabradė Training Area. The exercise raining audience will move by public roads, part of the exercise will be conducted near inhabited territories, meetings with local authorities, civilians and soldiers will be arranged.
During the phase in Klaipėda district and Kairiai Training Area (till October 4) the training audience will conduct various military operations: install check posts, ensure control, escort VIPs, etc. Luxembourg's reconnaissance personnel will reconnoitre and analyse the environment. In the exercise territory at various times of the day Lithuanian and Belgian troops will use military vehicles, have arms and use pyrotechnics and blast ammunition.
On October 4 the training audience will redeploy by public roads (Klaipėda - Šilutė - Tauragė - Jurbarkas - Šakiai - Kazlų Rūda) to Kazys Vieversys Training Area near Kazlų Rūda to continue the exercise. While redeploying the troops will stop according to schedule to meet with local population and display their military equipment.
Schedule:
• Tauragė (October 4, 11.00 - 12.00 val.), parking lot near the Castle of Tauragė;
• Jurbarkas (October 4, 14.00 - 15.00), Kauno str. 32;
• Šakiai (October 4, 14.00 -15.00), Square of the City Council, Bažnyčios str. 4;
• Kazlų Rūda (October 4, 17.00 -18.00), in front the Office of the City Council.
On 6-20 October the exercise will move to Gaižiūnai Training Area and Jonava district. Participating soldiers will train joint actions in a civil environment: conduct patrols, communicate with local residents, and corporately train to ensure different safety measures.
On 21 October the training audience will redeploy to Silvestras Žukauskas Training Audience in Pabradė where the exercise will be concluded.
Exercise Baltic Piranha organised by the Lithuanian Land Force will involve over 500 military personnel and nearly 100 units of different military materiel (Piranha and M-113 armoured personnel carriers, Dingo II reconnaissance vehicles, HMMWV and LYNX all-terrain vehicles).
Soldiers with the 12th Combat Aviation Brigade of the U.S. Army will ensure air support to the joint company of Belgian and Luxembourg's troops with UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters. Members of the Lithuanian Grand Duchess Birutė Uhlan Battalion and the Lithuanian Grand Duke Algirdas Mechanised Infantry Battalion will also perform joint actions.
This is the first deployment of a company-sized Belgian Army's contingent to Lithuania. The participants from Luxembourg (a platoon-sized unit, roughly 30 members) are deployed from the same reconnaissance company that provided military personnel for Exercise Iron Sword 2014 which took place in Lithuania last November.
Soldiers from Belgium and Luxembourg are coming to Lithuania as part of the assurance measures agreed at the NATO Summit in Wales last year.
As the assurance measures are implemented, military personnel from Denmark, Germany, Hungary, and Portugal have already trained joint actions with Lithuanian troops since spring 2014. Currently there is a rotational U.S. contingent consisting of over 200 troops deployed in Lithuania.
POC: Captain Andrius Dilda, e-mail: dilda.andrius@gmail.com, phone no.: 00370 640 45 380.
