Allied ships from the United States, Sweden, Poland, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, the UK, France, Denmark, Spain, Lithuania, Latvia, Finland, and Norway will participate in NATO’s annual Baltops Exercise, starting on June 5. With more than 30 NATO warships and almost 3,700 personnel,vessels started arriving in Tallinn on Tuesday, including France’s Commandant Blaison (F793) and the UK’s landing craft HMS Albion (L14). The purpose of the exercise is to improve maritime security in the region through partnership and the sharing of resources.
„Baltops 23 demonstrates the Allies’ commitment to the defence of Estonia and the entire Baltic Sea region, and proves that practising in our waters is crucial to that defence,” said Commodore Jüri Saska, commander of the Estonian Navy
„This year’s Baltops is a historic event for us, as there has never been such a large NATO naval presence on Estonian soil at the same time.”
The exercise itself involves a range of training scenarios, based on potential real-world events and crises, in which the participants act as either the defending or opposing force.
They could involve any number of important maritime security tasks, including search and rescue, anti-submarine warfare, mine countermeasures, radar tracking, and general seamanship.
Ultimately, the scenarios are designed to test the participants’ individual capabilities, as well as their overall ability to respond to threats as a combined force.
