Since the evening of June 12, more than 1800 military personnel from nine NATO and Partnership for Peace program countries have gathered for multinational Exercise Amber Hope 2011 (AH11) at the Lithuanian Armed Forces' Pabradės Training Area. Approximately 500 of the 1800 military personnel have come from abroad.
An infantry company from Estonia arrived in DAF trucks, and brought their own weaponry - the majority of which was their 7.62 mm AK4 assault rifles. Around 280 military personnel from Finland arrived for the Exercise in four groups - the first group came to Vilnius by civilian aircraft, while the second flew by military aircraft. The third group of Finns arrived by train, bringing military transport vehicles for the Exercise, which included SISU armored trucks, and Toyota and Mercedes-Benz ATVs. The remainder of the contingent came by bus. Finnish troops will use their own standard equipment for AH11, including assault rifles installed on SISU armored vehicles, MK19 automatic grenade launchers, 81 mm mine throwers and Finnish Rk95 7.62 mm assault rifles.
Platoons from neighboring Latvia arrived by military truck and brought their own weaponry, including AK4 and G3 7.62 mm assault rifles (which are also used by Lithuanian Armed Forces) and KSP 58 light machine guns.
Fifty Pennsylvania National Guard servicemembers arrived both by civilian and military aircraft. The US military brought their own medical equipment for AH11, which they will use for conducting the Tactical Combat Healthcare Course. Representatives from Georgia, Norway and Canada arrived at Pabradė via civilian airline. Polish, Canadian, Norwegian, and U.S. representatives will not train as part of the multinational battalions in the Exercise, so they did not bring military equipment.
Meanwhile, Lithuanians who arrived on June 12 started the Exercise by clearing the Varnakis lake coastal area, and on the eve of opening ceremonies, personnel from Lithuania, Estonia, Georgia, USA, Canada, Latvia, Poland, Norway and Finland participated in a rehearsal.
Amber Hope 2011 is the largest Exercise held in Lithuania this year, and will take place simultaneously in the Pabradės Training Area and Lithuania's territorial waters of the Baltic Sea. The goal of the Exercise is to enhance interaction of military units from NATO and Partnership for Peace program countries with a view of jointly conducting crisis response operations and strengthening military cooperation among members of the Alliance.
During the Exercise, the readiness of Lithuanian Armed Forces to render Host Nation Support for incoming allied forces will also be enhanced and evaluated.
For more information on the exercise:
http://kariuomene.kam.lt/en/ah11.html
www.facebook.com/GintarineViltis
Note for media:
Media representatives wishing to interview command and participants of Amber
Hope 2011 are invited to register at: cell phone 00370 640 45 380 or e-mail
neimontas@gmail.com (Capt Mindaugas Neimontas, Head of Media Operations
Section, AH11).
AH11 PIC pictures
