Large military exercise starting off Lithuania’s Baltic coast

Normally attended by the naval forces of the three Baltic states and the ships of the Baltic naval unit BALTRON, the manoeuvres are held on a bigger scale this year – Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 1 (SNMCMG1) will be joining the exercise, the Ministry of National Defence said.

The manoeuvres will be lead by the Lithuanian Navy.

All in all, the exercise will involve 20 warships from eight countries, namely, Belgium, Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland and the United Kingdom, as well as a team of the Lithuanian Navy’s submarine unit and two airplanes of the Lithuanian Air Force.

Held since 2008, the war games are organized by Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian naval forces by rotation.