With 12,000 soldiers from 19 members states, NATO is set to launch its largest-ever maritime exercise in the Baltic Sea. The Baltops 2024 drills kick-off on Wednesday (June 5) with a pre-sail conference in the Lithuanian port-city of Klaipeda.
Baltops 2024 will involve 12,000 soldiers from 19 NATO member states, with the Swedish military taking part for the first time since the country's accession to the North-Atlantic Alliance.
According to Lithuanian armed forces, the country’s port city of Klaipeda would be hosting more than 30 allied warships, manned by over 4,000 seamen, marines, navy aviation, and other navy specialist personnel.
In total, Baltops 2024 is to involve 50 warships, 25 military planes and 60 helicopters.
"BALTOPS 24 is a demonstration of NATO Allies’ agility in a dynamic security environment through practicing multi-domain operations to maintain a stable Baltic region," Air Marshal Johnny Stringer, Deputy Commander of NATO’s Allied Air Command at Ramstein, Germany was quoted as saying in a NATO press release.
"This integrated approach to Baltic Sea security sends a strong message to potential adversaries, deters aggression, enhances stability, and assures NATO nations and their populations," he added.
The Swedish military informed the drills would be held in the waters around the island of Gotland, the Bay of Riga, the Gulf of Bothnia and training grounds in Sweden (Gotland and the Stockholm archipelago), Poland, Germany and Lithuania.
The U.S-commanded exercise will be held until June 20.
Źródło: TVN24 News in English, PAP
Źródło zdjęcia głównego: Twitter/NATO