Lithuanian rotation actively preparing for standby for EU Battlegroup next year

In case of activation the EU BG will be ready for deployment into a region of crisis to render humanitarian assistance, complete peacekeeping and crisis response operations, support third states in countering terrorism, and to carry out other tasks.

Lithuanian military will form the Force protection Platoon of the Nordic BG. Separate Lithuanian troops will integrate into the BG headquarters, military police, repair and medical units and will standby in the National Support Element.

On 14-17 July, the troops prepared for the standby in a live firing event Close Protection of Persons at the Uhlan Battalion and the General S. Žukauskas Training Range. The exercise was conducted by experienced instructors from the Lithuanian Special Operations Forces.

At the exercise in the Uhlan Battalion the soldiers were training VIP escorting and acting in emergency situations.

According to the participants of the exercise, even though the unit included experienced soldiers who had been deployed to peace support operations more than once, everybody found the instructions of the Special Forces’ personnel useful.

Readiness of the members of the Uhlan Battalion to act in concert with their colleagues from other 6 countries will be certified at national level in October in Lithuania, while the Nordic BG in its full composition will be certified in November at Exercise Joint Action 2014 in Sweden.

The Swedish-led EU Nordic BG in the first half of 2015 will comprise roughly 2.4 military.

The operational headquarters of the Nordic Battlegroup has been deployed in and will operate from France, while its force-level staff will be located in Sweden.

The assigned personnel will maintain standby in their home bases and will be ready to deploy into the area of operation in 5-10 days and sustain there from 30 to 120 days.