On 7 September, patrol ship of the Lithuanian Naval Forces (LNF) "Aukštaitis" P14 and supply ship "Jotvingis" N42, which entered duty in the Baltic Squadron (BALTRON), departed from Klaipėda seaport to take part in the International military exercise Danex/"Northern Coasts 2011." The exercise will be carried out in the territorial waters of Germany and Denmark, central and western parts of the Baltic Sea, on 9-23 September.
The exercise will be attended by 50 warships, aircraft, Special Operations Forces, and other military units from 19 countries, i.e. Belgium, Denmark, Great Britain, Estonia, USA, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, France, Finland, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, Holland, Norway, Italy, Israel, and Turkey.
The aim of this exercise is to enhance joint collaboration of Naval Forces, Air and Special Operations Forces as well as their headquarters in crisis situations.
According to the scenario, military units will be divided into two groups; one group will simulate the attack, the other will render assistance to the attacked country.
The exercise will also focus on the ways of improving manoeuvrability of ships, convoy, artillery firing, counter-air defence and operations against non-standard combat means, as well as rescue and search, seafloor mine-clearance operations, etc.
The exercise will include the supply ship of LNF "Jotvingis" N42 led by captain Lt. Vytautas Šakalys. Before participating in the exercise Danex/"Northern Coasts 2011", "Jotvingis" N42 ship took part in BALTRON (Estonia), tripartite exercise of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia "Baltic Fortress" (Estonia), International exercise "Baltops 2011" (Denmark, Germany), as well as International seafloor mine-clearance exercise "Open Spirit 2011."
At present, the Baltic Squadron is under the command of Lt. Cdr. Andrius Širvys of the Lithuanian Navy.
One of the key tasks of BALTRON is detecting and destroying mines and other undetonated ammunition remaining on the Baltic seafloor since WWII. The Squadron also serves as a training platform before service in NATO's units.
LNF PR Officer Lt (N) Antanas Brencius at 00370 46 391 207 or cell phone 00370 698 18 196.
