Multinational Exercise Amber Hope, which will take place in Lithuania from June 13 to 23, will follow a scenario based on real experiences of Lithuanian and foreign military personnel in multinational operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia.
According to the Exercise scenario, the action will be located in a fictitious Amberland state. Unrest grips Amberland, and the government requests assistance from the international community in ensuring security in the country and forming and training national security forces. Unrest in Amberland is flared up by a regime called Sula, a religious-political movement acting as an insurgent force in the country. Insurgents intend to intercept control of the country's administrative institutions and ensure their authoritarian rule based on fundamentalist ideology.
Supporters of the Sula regime carry out violent attacks against governmental institutions, troops of foreign states, representatives of the United Nations and NGOs with an aim to destabilize Amberland's government. Sula has also admitted sea pirate groups to install training camps in the Sula-controlled territory, aiming to take hostages and demand ransom from Amberland's government. The international community denounces Sula's actions.
The United Nations Security Council mandates an International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to start a multinational crisis response operation to render support to Amberland's government for ensuring security in the country in response to the situation.
Military personnel deployed to Amber Hope 2011 will act as ISAF, incorporating all the components of armed forces - land, naval, air, and special operations.
The Exercise will take place simultaneously in Pabrades Training Area and Lithuania's territorial waters of the Baltic Sea. Over 2000 military servicemembers and civilians from seven NATO countries - Canada, Estonia, Latvia, Norway, Poland, USA and Lithuania, and two NATO partner countries under the Partnership for Peace programme - Finland and Georgia, will take part in the exercise. Armenia's, Azerbaijan's, Belarus', Kazakhstan's, Moldova's and Ukraine's armed forces and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe are expected to delegate observers for the Exercise.
The goal of Amber Hope 2011 is to enhance interaction of military units of 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.
The Exercise will also serve for enhancing and evaluating readiness of the Lithuanian Armed Forces to deliver Host Nation Support to the incoming forces.
Lithuanian Armed Forces have been organizing Amber Hope since 1995. The last Amber Hope series was held in Klaipėda in 2007. This year, the Exercise is planned and conducted by the Joint Headquarters of the Lithuanian Armed Forces.
