From September 15 to 21 Lithuanian mine countermeasures ship "Sūduvis" (M52) assigned to the Baltic Naval Squadron (BALTRON) will be delegated to take part in the peacetime maritime operation "Route Survey 2012" held in the territorial waters and the exclusive economic zone of Latvia. The objective of the operation is to provide an update for the Latvian Navy's Seafloor Data Centre on the newly detected submerged objects in the region of used navigation routes.
Deployment on the operation is also an excellent opportunity to test the readiness of ship crews to conduct at-sea mine detection as well as to test mine detection and identification equipment. Personnel of the participant countries will share experience of at-sea mine detection operations. The total of five military vessels is deployed on the operation: one Lithuanian, tree Latvian and one Estonian participant.
The Baltic Naval Squadron was established in 1998, the unit includes military vessels assigned for duty by the Lithuanian, Latvian, and Estonian Navies, an international staff manned by the representatives of the respective countries. Among the key tasks of BALTRON is the detection and neutralisation of mines and other unexploded ammunition remaining on the Baltic seafloor from World War I and World War II. The experience from the duty in BALTRON is also beneficial as a preparation for deployment with the NATO Response Force and the Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group.
LITHNAVY CIMIC Representative Lt (N) Antanas Brencius, phone no. 00370 46 391 207, cell phone no. 00370 8 698 18 196.
Photo from LITHNAVY archive.
