Lithuanian Military Unit Begins Standby In NATO Response Force
Baltic Course
January 4, 2013
Lithuanian contingent began standby in NATO Response Force
Šiauliai Air Base, Lithuania
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The NATO Response Force (NRF) is a highly ready and technologically advanced multinational NATO force, one of the core combat instruments of the Alliance. The NRF is made up of military units which are committed by allies and maintain high readiness in their home countries for a set period of time prepared to deploy into an operation theatre in case a decision to activate the NRF was made. Once the decision is made, the NRF is capable of deploying within five days.
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Vilnius: On January 1, 2013, an approximately 200-strong Lithuanian contingent began standby in the NATO Response Force (NRF). Lithuanian service members were delegated by the Lithuanian Air Force, Juozas Vitkus Engineer Battalion, Lithuanian Special Operations Forces and the Lithuanian Grand Duke Algirdas Battalion, reports LETA/ELTA Ministry of National Defence.
German warplanes operating out of the Šiauliai Air Base during NATO air patrol mission
An Airport Terminal Maintenance Unit formed by the Lithuanian Air Force will conduct standby in the NATO Response Force for a third time. This year the Lithuanian Air Force has committed its C-27J Spartan transport aircraft to the all-year-round readiness NATO Response Force. Previously service members of the Lithuanian Air Force were assigned to complete duty in the NRF in the second semester of 2008 and in 2011.
In case of deployment of the NATO Response Force into an operation theatre, the 1st Explosive Ordnance Disposal Platoon of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Company of the Juozas Vitkus Engineer Battalion composed of two sections and a command group will be ready for duty. If such a necessity occurred, EOD specialists would carry out standard explosive and IED neutralisation operations, reconnaissance and clearance of explosives in a contaminated area. In the past the Juozas Vitkus Engineer Battalion provided General Engineer and Explosives Ordnance Disposal platoons for NRF.
The Lithuanian Grand Duke Algirdas Battalion will also commit its 2nd Company for the year-long standby in NRF in 2013 which will act as a Force Protection Company in case the NATO Response Force is activated.
The NATO Response Force (NRF) is a highly ready and technologically advanced multinational NATO force, one of the core combat instruments of the Alliance. The NRF is made up of military units which are committed by allies and maintain high readiness in their home countries for a set period of time prepared to deploy into an operation theatre in case a decision to activate the NRF was made. Once the decision is made, the NRF is capable of deploying within five days.
The NATO Response Force initiative was announced at the Prague Summit in November 2002. The decision to use the NRF is made by the North Atlantic Council. From October 2005 to February 2006, elements of the NATO Response Force were used for the first time in Pakistan after a devastating earthquake…
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Baltic News Service
December 27, 2012
Denmark to take over NATO’s Baltic air policing mission from Czech Republic
Danish troops with F-16 fighter jets are set to replace Czech troops currently protecting the airspace of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia as of the next year.
Four US-made fighter jets of the Royal Danish Air Force will land at the Lithuanian Air Base in Siauliai on Jan. 2 and the rotation ceremony will take place on Jan. 3, the Ministry of National Defense said on Thursday.
Danish troops will protect the Baltic airspace for the fourth time already.
Czech troops with fighter jets JAS-39C “Gripen” have been guarding the Baltic airspace since late August.
Lithuania and other Baltic states don’t have air policing assets. Based on the decision by the North Atlantic Council, since March 2004, when the Baltic States joined NATO, the 24/7 task to police the airspace of the Baltic States has been conducted on three-month rotation from Lithuania’s First Air Base in Zokniai/Siauliai International Airport.
Troops from Belgium, Denmark, the Czech Republic, the UK, Spain, the US, Poland, Norway, the Netherlands, Portugal, France, Romania, Turkey and Germany have guarded the Baltic airspace.
A Battalion named after a monarch that expanded its dynastic rule by the sword says it all. These military organisations are all servants of fucking monarchs and their little empires and they ALL need to be wiped off the face of this earth so that we can return to living on a land that is OWNED by the people who live on it and not by war lords whose ancestors slashed their way across lands in distant ages.
“Danish troops with F-16 fighter jets are set to replace Czech troops currently protecting the airspace of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia as of the next year.”
This really is getting worse than a very bad joke.What is the point of the Naked AGgression Terrorist Ogre NATO? Protecting us all from each other?
The three Baltic states all border Russia, either the Russian mainland or the Kaliningrad exclave.
The air patrols by NATO warplanes, which started nine years ago and have continued without interruption, are aimed against Russia and Russia only; like the Patriot interceptors deployed to Morag, Poland in May of 2010.
No one can even pretend that the Baltic patrols and the Patriots are related in any manner to Iran, North Korea, etc.
I love the picture of the German warplanes on a Nato patrol mission. The markings on the side of the planes I mistook as Swastikas, I guess somethings will stick with you forever.
On a serious note Germany should disolve itself from Nato completely , did it not learn from its previous arse kickings by the Russians.