A delegation of U.S. Pennsylvania National Guard officers is expected to conduct a work visit to Lithuania as soon as this month to consult the Lithuanian Armed Forces on developing a division-level staff capability at our Land Force Headquarters. This is an idea the leadership of the Lithuanian Armed Forces had last summer because of the cooperation with our U.S. allies.
"After having assessed the present capabilities of the Lithuanian Armed Forces and the need to increase coordination of our joint actions, our allies from the U.S. Army Europe expressed great support to our idea to restructure our current Land Force Headquarters according to the model of a U.S. Army division-level headquarters. Moreover, they are prepared to give us every assistance needed in the implementation of the idea. First and foremost, I see it as an excellent assessment of the Lithuanian Armed Forces and trust in it. Also, it will serve as an additional l measure of deterrence and will improve our compatibility with the U.S. allies in terms of national defence. It is an opportunity it would not be wise to miss," Chief of Defence of Lithuania Lieutenant General Jonas Vytautas Žukas said.
The Lithuanian Armed Forces currently has four brigade-sized units: Mechanised Infantry Brigade Iron Wolf, Motorised Infantry Brigade Griffin, Light Infantry Brigade Aukštaitija (reserve), and the National Defence Volunteer Force equalling a light infantry brigade. According to Chief of Defence it is therefore only logical that the superior headquarters, the Land Force Headquarters, equals a division headquarters. According to Lithuanian Armed Forces leadership, drawing it structurally closer to a U.S. Army division-level headquarters will allow us to cooperate with our strategic U.S. allies more efficiently.
"The project will help us understand each other and put our points across even better and more effectively, as well as improve our integration with each other," Chief of Defence stated.
The Lithuanian Land Force Headquarters is planned to sign a cooperation agreement with the headquarters of the 28th Infantry Division of the U.S. Pennsylvania National Guard by the middle of this year. The document will provide the basis for eventually developing a division-level staff capability at the Lithuanian Land Force Headquarters.
Next year the U.S. European Command is planned to conduct a large-scale military exercise Defence 2020 in order to showcase U.S. ability to swiftly move a division to any area of operation Europe-wide. According to the Lithuanian Armed Forces leadership, it would be an excellent opportunity for the Land Force Headquarters to carry out its first training as a division headquarters in international environment, therefore efforts are made to have the U.S. allies to include our headquarters into the Defence 2020 scenario.
"We have approximately a year to implement the project of division headquarters development. It will suffice to set everything for ourselves in order, check, test, and I believe we should be able to demonstrate a certain new kind of quality at Exercise Defence 2020," Lt Gen J. V. Žukas says.
The bilateral project is perfectly consistent with national armed defence plans and other international projects already underway, such as the affiliation of the Lithuanian Armed Forces Mechanised Infantry Brigade Iron Wolf to a German division for training purposes, and an analogous affiliation of the Griffin Motorised Infantry Brigade to the Danish Division, or assignment of the Iron Wolf Brigade to the Poland-based Multinational Division North East which is in the NATO Command and Control Structure.
The United States is Lithuania's strategic partner and a key ally for the security in the Baltic region. The U.S. is actively involved in the implementation of security assurance measures in the Baltic states and ensuring of security and stability in the region. The country is contributing financially as well as equipment and personnel actively to the defence of our region.
Photo credit: P. Čilinskas
POC: Spokesperson for the Chief of Defence of Lithuania Maj Mindaugas Neimontas
+370 5 278 5091, +370 682 25359, Mindaugas.neimontas@mil.lt
