NATO units set for Lithuania and five other eastern member states

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Latvian defence budget is one of the fastest growing in the world

http://www.sargs.lv/Zinas/Military_News/2016/12/14-01.aspx#lastcomment


Ministry of Defence informs that Latvian defence budget approved by the Saeima is one of the fastest growing budgets in the world. As shown by analysis published by "IHS Markit" on October, 2016, the defence budgets of Latvia and Lithuania have increased the fastest since 2014, and this rate of growth will be continued until 2018.

In comparison with 2015, this year the defence budget had increased by 40%, but in 2017, in comparison with this year, the defence budget will grow by 22%.

Infographic prepared by the Ministry of Defence provides an expanded insight into defence budget implementation of 2017, explaining the more important priorities of defence sector, capacity development projects and the necessary financial amount required for implementation. Infographic also provides a view to overall dynamics of the budget of defence sector and its perspective in order to reach 2% of GDP by 2018.

Infographic shows distribution of financing for the largest development projects and expenditure items.

• Defence budget for 2017 is 449.57 million euro, i.e., 1.7% of GDP.

• From every 1 EUR paid in taxes, a total of 4.9 cents are alloted to defence in 2017.

• Budget for 2017 is divided in categories: 33% for investments, 28% for maintenance, 39% for personnel.

The biggest military capabilities projects in 2017 will be infrastructure development, reconnaissance, airspace surveillance and anti-air defence, as well as individual equipment, as well as Land Forces Infantry Brigade mechanization project.

http://www.sargs.lv/Zinas/Military_News/2016/12/28-01.aspx#lastcomment

US Republican Senator John McCain during his meeting with Latvian Defense Minister Raimonds Bergmanis reassured the US support to strengthening Latvia’s defense.

Bergmanis and Latvia’s Chief of Defense Lieutenant General Raimonds Graube today met with visiting Republican Senators John McCain and Lindsay Graham, and Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar to discuss regional security and further bilateral cooperation.

Bergmanis said during the meeting that Latvia when adopting its 2017 budget is on the way to strengthen and develop its defense capabilites, proving itself as a strong NATO member state and strategic partner for the US.

The minister also agreed with the senators on the threat created by Russia and increase of its military activities in the past years.

McCain reassured the US support to Latvia in strengthening defense, underscoring the role of cyber defense in tackling general threats. "Messaging matters, language matters - in the traditional information space and cyber space alike," said McCain.

Senators today visited the National Guard headquarters and met with National Guard commander, Brigadier General Ainars Ozolins.

The senators have arrived in Latvia during their broader regional visit that includes also Georgia, Estonia, Lithuania, Montenegro and Ukraine.

The senators plan to meet also with President Raimonds Vejonis, Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics (Unity), Saeima speaker Inara Murniece (National Alliance).

 

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http://www.reuters.com/article/us-nato-russia-idUSKBN14Q1VC

By Stephane Nitschke | BREMERHAVEN, Germany

Hundreds of U.S. tanks, trucks and other military equipment arrived by ship in Germany on Friday to be transported by rail and road to eastern Europe as part of a NATO buildup that has drawn Russia's ire.

Two shiploads arrived in the northern port of Bremerhaven and a third was due in a few days, bringing the fleets of tracked and wheeled vehicles for use by around 4,000 U.S. troops being deployed for exercises in NATO states near Russia.

U.S. and Polish forces will participate in a large "massing" exercise in Poland at the end of January as part of a series of measures aimed at reassuring U.S. allies in Europe after Russia's 2014 annexation of the Crimea region of Ukraine.

"The best way to maintain the peace is through preparation," Major General Timothy McGuire told reporters when asked if the large deployment was meant to send a message to Russia.

"This is just showing the strength and cohesion of the alliance and the U.S. commitment to maintain the peace on the continent," he said.

NATO countries say their planned deployments to eastern NATO countries are purely defensive, but Russia has rebuked what it sees as an aggressive western buildup in eastern Europe.

In addition to U.S. troops going to Poland, NATO members Germany, Canada and Britain are also sending battalions of up to 1,000 troops each to the former Soviet republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

They say the four battalions, backed by additional U.S. forces on rotation, are justified by Moscow's annexation of Crimea and support for separatists in eastern Ukraine. Those actions alarmed the Baltic states, which worry they could be the next targets of Russian pressure.

Among their equipment will be 87 Abrams M1A1 tanks, 20 Paladin artillery vehicles and 136 Bradley fighting vehicles.

The equipment will be used by the U.S. Army's 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, arriving this month from Fort Carson, Colorado for the first of what Washington promises will be back-to-back nine-month rotations in the "foreseeable future."

Beginning in February, U.S. military units will spread out across Poland, the Baltic states, Bulgaria, Romania and Germany for training, exercises and maintenance.


The Army is also sending its 10th Combat Aviation Brigade with about 50 Black Hawk and 10 CH-47 Chinook helicopters and 1,800 personnel, as well as a separate aviation battalion with 400 troops and 24 Apache helicopters.

Germany's Left party, which has called for closer ties with Russia, said Berlin had a historic obligation to work for peace and disarmament, and it would protest against the deployment.

"Tanks never create peace anywhere," said Christian Goerke, who heads the party in Brandenburg state. "Quite the contrary, a troop deployment of such a scale is part of always increasing buildup and provocation."

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal and Reuters TV; Editing by Tom Heneghan)

 

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http://www.businessinsider.com/r-us...lex-training-in-europe-to-deter-russia-2017-1

U.S. tanks, trucks and other military equipment, which arrived by ship, are unloaded in the harbour of Bremerhaven, Germany January 8, 2017. REUTERS/Fabian Bimmer


"Let me be clear: This is one part of our efforts to deter Russian aggression, ensure the territorial integrity of our allies and maintain a Europe that is whole, free, prosperous, and at peace," U.S. Air Force Lieutenant General Tim Ray, deputy commander of U.S. European Command, said in prepared remarks.

Ray underscored the United States' "rock-solid commitment to Europe" in the northern German port of Bremerhaven, where he marked the arrival in recent days of some 2,800 pieces of military equipment that will be used by nearly 4,000 U.S. troops in exercises in NATO states near Russia.

The U.S. and NATO buildup in eastern Europe comes days after U.S. intelligence agencies accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of ordering an effort to help Republican Donald Trump's electoral chances by discrediting Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential campaign.

Ray said the U.S. military's nearly 70,000 service members in Europe were adapting to rapidly changing strategic challenges such as Russia's military operations in Ukraine, migrant flows from Syria, and Islamist radicalism, as evidenced by a truck attack in Berlin that killed 12 people in December.

The U.S. military and NATO are seeking to boost their ability to quickly respond to emerging threats by pre-positioning supplies and equipment across Europe, while upgrading airfields, ranges and other infrastructure after years of neglect.

"We will also increase the scope and complexity of many exercises in our portfolio focusing on joint interoperability, missile defense and crisis response operations," Ray said.

U.S. tanks, trucks and other military equipment, which arrived by ship, are unloaded in the harbour of Bremerhaven, Germany January 8, 2017. REUTERS/Fabian Bimmer

The newly arrived tanks and trucks were just one part of a larger force that included equipment in "space, cyberspace, the air and sea," he said.

The U.S. and Polish military are gearing up for a large "massing" exercise at the end of January.

U.S. officials say this year's military exercises will focus on better integrating disparate military components and domains, instead of focusing on single areas of concern, such as air superiority, as they were in the past.

 

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U.S soldiers arrive to Zagan as part of NATO deployment, Zagan, Poland January 12, 2017. (REUTERS Photo)

http://www.hindustantimes.com/world...-s-doorstep/story-HMVYAJ2FVmgqxFaynqG7QM.html

American soldiers rolled into Poland on Thursday, fulfilling a dream some Poles have had since the fall of communism in 1989 to have US troops on their soil as a deterrent against Russia.

Some people waved and held up American flags as U.S. troops in tanks and other vehicles crossed into southwestern Poland from Germany and headed toward the town of Zagan, where they will be based. Poland’s prime minister and defense minister will welcome them in an official ceremony Saturday.

“This is the fulfilment of a dream,” said Michal Baranowski, director of the German Marshall Fund think tank in Warsaw. “And this is not just a symbolic presence but one with a real capability.”

U.S. and other Western nations have carried out exercises on NATO’s eastern flank in past years, but the new deployment — which includes some 3,500 U.S. troops — marks the first-ever continuous deployment to the region by a NATO ally.

It is part of a larger commitment by President Barack Obama to protect a region that grew deeply nervous when Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and then began backing separatist rebels in Ukraine’s east.

There are fears, however, that the enhanced security could eventually be undermined by the pro-Kremlin views of President-elect Donald Trump.

Poland and the Baltic states also feel threatened by Russia’s recent deployment of nuclear-capable Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad, the Russian territory wedged between Poland and Lithuania.

But Russia says it’s the one who is threatened.


“These actions threaten our interests, our security,” President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday. “Especially as it concerns a third party building up its military presence near our borders. It’s not even a European state.”

Worries about the permanence of the new U.S. security commitments are rooted in a tragic national history in which Poland has often lost out in deals made by the great powers.

Poles still feel betrayed by Obama’s “reset” with Russia early on in his administration, which involved abandoning plans for a major U.S. missile defense system in Poland and replacing it with plans for a less ambitious system, still not in place.

“All recent U.S. presidents have thought there can be a grand bargain with Russia,” said Marcin Zaborowski, a senior associate at Visegrad Insight, an analytic journal on Central Europe. “Trump has a proclivity to make deals, and Central and Eastern Europe have reason to worry about that.”

Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski expressed hope this week that any new effort at reconciliation with Russia “does not happen at our expense.”

The armoured brigade combat team arriving in Poland hails from Fort Carson, Colorado. The troops arrived last week in Germany and are gathering in Poland before units will fan out across seven countries from Estonia to Bulgaria. A headquarters unit will be stationed in Germany. After nine months they will be replaced by another unit.

In a separate but related mission, NATO will also deploy four battalions to its eastern flank later this year, one each to Poland and the three Baltic states. The U.S. will also lead one of those battalions.

 

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http://www.businessinsider.com/interactive-map-russia-nato-missile-stand-off-2017-1
Those systems could hinder NATO’s access to the territory in which it operates — akin to a 21st century moat around a castle. In defense jargon, it’s a strategy known as anti-access/area denial, or A2/AD. And it’s a top worry for NATO commanders.

“The proliferation and the density of that kind of A2/AD environment is something that we’re going to have to take into account,” Gen. Frank Gorenc, the top U.S. Air Force commander in Europe, said of Russia’s missile build-up near Eastern Europe in an interview with the New York Times last year. “It is very serious,” he said.

To visualize the NATO-Russia missile defense stand-off, experts at the Center of Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) put together an interactive map showing what each side has in its arsenal — from missile defense to land-based and naval-based strike capabilities. Take a look here:

As the map shows, Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave on the Baltic coast sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania, boasts one of Russia’s thickest A2/AD “bubbles.” Kaliningrad is a major thorn in the side of NATO as it bulks up the alliance’s military footprint on its eastern flank, said Thomas Karako, a missile defense expert with CSIS who created the interactive map.

“When Air Force One flew [President Barack Obama] into Warsaw, it had to fly through Russia’s air defense bubble,” Karako told Foreign Policy, referring to Obama’s participation in the NATO summit in Poland in July 2016. “That illustrates just how deep Russia’s missiles can reach into NATO territory,” he said.

The map also conveys how vulnerable NATO sea and airports in the Baltic states are to Russia’s blanket of missile threats. Russia could cut the Baltic states off from the rest of NATO in a crisis scenario, U.S. Army Europe Commander Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges told FP in 2015. Those ports, a military lifeline for NATO reinforcements in the unlikely event of a Russian attack, aren’t very well defended, said Karako. “It’s a real concern.”

This week, the United States began the largest deployment of troops and tanks to Europe since the end of the Cold War, as part of its efforts to shore up deterrence against Russia. But with President-elect Donald Trump, a critic of NATO, set to take office on Jan. 20, some allies are question the reliability of American security commitments to Europe.

 

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Some 4,000 U.S. soldiers have been deployed as part of troop rotations to Europe that the Pentagon has said are intended to bolster ties with NATO allies and send a clear message to Russia.Russia has criticized the continuous deployments as a threat to Russian security, according to CNN. "It's a great day today when we can welcome, here in Zagan, American soldiers who represent the best, the greatest army in the world," Szydlo said at the ceremony in the snowy western town of Zagan.

 

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http://www.militarytimes.com/articles/nato-boosts-its-baltic-presence-new-troops-start-to-arrive
VILNIUS, Lithuania — The first of a 1,200-strong NATO force have arrived in Lithuania close to a key Russian Baltic Sea exclave amid growing fears on security in the region.

The more than 100 Belgian army troops and five dozen military vehicles sailed to Klaipeda, some 60 kilometers (37 miles) from Russia's Kaliningrad exclave, which has a navy base and long-range missile systems.

The Belgians will join German, Dutch, and Norwegian troops at the Rukla base in central Lithuania.

At last year's NATO summit in Warsaw, the alliance decided to deploy forces in the countries bordering Russia and Belarus. There is a fear in the Baltic countries and Poland that the former Soviet republics could be next, after Russia displayed its might in Georgia and Ukraine.

Karliki Poland

 

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16:21
Baltic Fleet's S-400 operating crews hold simulation practice (Part 2)

 

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https://sputniknews.com/military/201702061050391896-us-army-vehicles-estonia/

A new company with four M1A2 Abrams tanks and 15 Bradley fighting vehicles will replace the company of the 173rd Airborne Brigade’s 503rd Infantry Regiment, which arrived in Estonia in September 2016.

TALLINN (Sputnik) – US heavy vehicles of the infantry company of the 68th Armored Regiment’s 1st Battalion arrived on Monday in Estonia as part of the Atlantic Resolve operation, the Estonian Defense Forces said in a statement.

"The infantry company’s heavy equipment with tanks and armored fighting vehicles arrived at Estonia’s Tapa station … The company’s personnel arrived last Friday," the statement said.

The company with four M1A2 Abrams tanks and 15 Bradley fighting vehicles will replace the company of the 173rd Airborne Brigade’s 503rd Infantry Regiment that arrived in Estonia in September 2016.

The Operation Atlantic Resolve was launched to boost NATO military presence in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland following the eruption of the Ukrainian crisis in 2014 with the Western countries using alleged Russian interference in Ukrainian affairs as a pretext.

http://tass.com/world/929237
February 06, 16:10 UTC+3
Special equipment will be used to dismantle the ex-Soviet base and the dismantling effort will cost around 190,000 euros, according to a news outlet

Interior view of a pit with strategic missile
© Alexandr Ovchinnikov/Fotokhronika TASS
MOSCOW, February 6. /TASS/. The last Soviet base near the town of Gulbene in northeast Latvia that once accommodated missiles with nuclear warheads will be dismantled, the web portal Delfi reported on Monday.

According to the web portal, the missile compound Dvina R-12 accommodates four silos 32 meters deep for the launch of missiles, and also an underground command center.

"In principle, this is an impressive 10-storey underground building divided by several levels and built of a very strong concrete," the web portal citied the owner of the company dealing with the compound’s dismantling.

Special equipment will be used to dismantle the ex-Soviet base and the dismantling effort will cost around 190,000 euros. The base is expected to be fully dismantled over six months, the web portal said.

 

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Sochaczew Poland

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russia has repeatedly expressed concern over the creation of a ballistic missile defense system in Europe, approved in 2010 during a NATO summit in Lisbon. A group of European countries, including Poland, Romania, Spain and Turkey, agreed to deploy elements of the system on their territories.

The United States and NATO continue to claim that the ballistic missile defense system is aimed primarily at countering threats from Iran and North Korea.

The USS Hue City, a guided missile cruiser, arrived at the Port of Klaipeda for a friendly February 6-11 visit, according to a statement issued by Lithuania's Defense Ministry.
VILNIUS (Sputnik) — The USS Hue City, a US guided missile cruiser, has arrived at the Port of Klaipeda according to a Lithuanian Defense Ministry press release, and will leave by February 11.

"The US USS Hue City (CG-66) has arrived in the Klaipeda seaport for a February 6-11 friendly visit. The ship's visit to Klaipeda demonstrates the US military's efforts to establish close ties with NATO allies and regional partners in order to achieve peace and stability in the Baltic region," the press release read.

The vessel's commander is expected to meet with Klaipeda Mayor Vytautas Grubliauskas and the commander of the Lithuanian Navy.

The Hue City, a Ticonderoga-class cruiser, was built in 1989. The warship has a crew of 400, is 173 meters (568 feet) in length, and has a top speed of 32.5 knots.

 

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NATO steps, including deployment near Russia’s borders, greatly increase the danger of possible incidents, serious conversations with the alliance on European security are only possible after it reverts to the situation before it began the military buildup in eastern Europe, Meshkov also said.

"It is evident that NATO steps greatly increase the danger of possible incidents … In general, we believe that the serious conversation with NATO on European security is only possible when the alliance returns to the situation which existed before its current buildup of military preparations in eastern Europe," Meshkov said.

Meshkov further hypothesized that the Western military alliance's ramp-up "creates a base allowing to rapidly increase the presence of NATO forces on our borders" in addition to training local troops.

NATO's decision to send multinational battalions to Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia in addition to Poland was made at its Warsaw summit in July.

On January 12, Poland received almost 1,000 US soldiers and a tank brigade comprising around 3,500 service personnel, 87 tanks, 18 self-propelled Paladin howitzers and other fighting vehicles.

According to Meshkov, the European Union and NATO should be concerned about this imbalance, but not about the number of Russian fighter jets in Serbia.

Meshkov added that Russia had supported the idea to create an alliance of neutral Balkan states comprising Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro.


"To my mind, this way is very promising," the deputy foreign minister said.


Earlier this week, media reported that the Serbian Defense Ministry would receive six Mikoyan MiG-29 fighter jets from Russia before the end of April. Belgrade expects that Russian specialists would help to modernize these aircraft which would begin service as part of the country's 204th Air Brigade by 2018.