Lithuanian military personnel are getting ready for NATO's rapid response exercise STEADFAST JAZZ 2013 that will be held concurrently in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland on November 2 through 9 to train and evaluate readiness of the NATO Response Force (NRF) to manage international crises. Approximately 300 Lithuanian soldiers that the training event will involve are going to be deployed across multiple exercise locations in Poland, Latvia and Lithuania.
Another unique feature of STEADFAST JAZZ 2013 is that it will be combined with Host Nation Support (HNS) exercise BALTIC HOST 2013 which will train military personnel of the Baltic States to provide HNS to contributing NATO allies. It will also enhance the ability of the Baltic States to provide HNS to joint forces in case it were deployed in the region to respond to a crisis.
"This NRF exercise will be the first NATO's collective training event in our region. It is a great evidence that the Alliance is ready to protect the Baltic nations and Poland from any threat," Minister of National Defence Juozas Olekas said. He also underlined the significance of integration of BALTIC HOST into a large-scale NATO exercise thus elevating it to a higher level of training. "Now our military and civilian personnel from other ministries and institutions will ensure interoperability not only at regional level but also at the level of the Alliance level. That will significantly increase the readiness of the Baltic countries to render HNS to contributing NATO nations," the Minister said.
STEADFAST JAZZ 2013 will train NATO Response Force, the first NATO capability deploy to a region and control crisis if such a necessity arises. NATO has not held an exercise of such magnitude since 2006. It will involve both, command post personnel and combat units. "It is an excellent opportunity for the military to gather experience of joint operation with NATO forces while ensuring national defence," Minister of National Defence J. Olekas said.
During STEADFAST JAZZ 2013 a Lithuanian company (approx. 140 members) will take part in a field training event at Drawsko Pomorskie Training Range of the Polish Armed Forces as part of a multinational unit. Lithuanian troops attached to Joint and Tactical Air Control Parties will also be deployed to this training range. Lithuania will contribute 10 military and civilian headquarters personnel to the command post of Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum and Exercise Control Element deployed at Adazi Training Area for the portion of the exercise in Latvia. Two more Lithuanian staff officers will be delegated to NATO's Joint Warfare Centre in Norway. Furthermore, Lithuanian military will be rendering HNS at Pabradė Training Area of the Lithuanian Armed Forces to an Italian-led NRF Special Operations Forces HQ.
NATO's exercise STEADFAST JAZZ 2013 will involve over 6 thousand military personnel from 20 NATO member states and NATO's partners Ukraine. 3 thousand headquarters personnel will be deployed by the Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum (the Netherlands) and other allied commands to attend command and control exercise at Adazi, Latvia. Another 3 thousand of multinational personnel will train at field and live-fire exercise at Drawsko Pomorskie, Poland. Air, land, maritime and special forces elements will act at the exercise too.
STEADFAST JAZZ 2013 will also train and certify readiness of the NATO Response Force to respond to any type of threat in any part of the world, or engage in combat actions. Readiness of the Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum personnel to provide command and control of NATO operations in 2014 will also be put to a test at STEADFAST JAZZ 2013.
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The NATO Response Force (NRF) is a highly ready and technologically advanced multinational NATO force manned by NATO member states on a rotational basis. NRF is composed of military units assigned by NATO member states which conduct high readiness stand-by in their permanent deployment locations and maintain readiness to deploy into the area of operations within a designated period of time in case a decision to activate the NRF was made. In such case the NRF rotation of stand-by would be able to deploy into the area of operations within five days. Political authorisation to use the NATO Response Force, formed from land, air, maritime and special forces components, is given by the North Atlantic Council.
The first-ever activation of the NRF took place in October 2005 in response to a major earthquake in Pakistan. Lithuania contributed its Water Purification Unit formed from personnel and equipment of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Vytenis General Support Logistics Battalion to the humanitarian assistance operation. Approximately 200 Lithuanian troops from the Lithuanian Air Force, Juozas Vitkus Engineer Battalion, Special Operations Forces and the Lithuanian Grand Duke Algirdas Mechanised Infantry Battalion are currently on standby with the NRF.
For the Media: Media representatives will be given an opportunity to attend Media and Visitors Days of Exercise Steadfast Jazz 2013 and Exercise Baltic Host at General Adolfas Ramanauskas Warfare Training Centre (Nemenčinė, Lithuania) on November 5; main formal Visitors Days at Adazi Training Area, Latvia, on November 6 and in Poland on November 7. Those willing to attend need to obtain NATO accreditation at: http://aco.nato.int/for-journalists.aspx
Website for Exercise Steadfast Jazz 2013: http://aco.nato.int/steadfast-jazz.aspx
POCPAO for the Joint Staff of the Lithuanian Armed Forces 1st Lt Žilvinas Zakarauskas, phone no. 00370 5 211 3902, 00370 698 02 290.
Photos from the MOD archive (by Alfredas Pliadis): another NRF exercise of Steadfast series, STEADFAST JUNCTURE 2011 took place at Pabradė Training Area of the Lithuanian Armed Forces on November 2011. It certified readiness of NATO Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum (JFC) Headquarters and Allied Force Command (FC) Headquarters Heidelberg Deployable Joint Staff Element (DJSE 2) to command and control a multinational deployed force for NATO Response Force (NRF) 2012 standby period.
