(18 Jun 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
DVIDS
Utska, Poland – 16 June 2024
1. Various of US military vehicles landing on beach from landing craft
2. Various of US troops walking through forest
3. Various of US troops taking up positions in forest
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Maj. Jackson Thornton, US Marine Corp:
“I’d say the most important thing for this exercise is the interoperability across all NATO allies, across the multi-national spectrum, I would say, in complex amphibious operations. Building that interoperability for future contingencies is the most important thing that Baltops gets after, every year since 1972.”
5. Troops working to disembark equipment from landing craft
6. Helicopter overhead
7. Various of troops and armoured personal carriers
8. Troops marching
DVIDS
Baltic Sea, At Sea – 08 June 2024
9. Various AERIALS of ships participating in Baltops steaming in formation
STORYLINE:
Some 9,000 troops from 20 NATO countries have been participating this month in military exercises in the Baltic Sea region, which has become strategically sensitive following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Sweden, which had joined the drills in the past, took part in the Baltops exercises for the first time in June as a full NATO member after joining the trans-Atlantic military alliance earlier this year. The weeks of training include sea mine sweeps, submarine detection and landings.
The exercises by navy, air force and ground troops are being held on the Baltic Sea, as well as in Sweden and its strategic island of Gotland, and in Lithuania, Poland and Germany. They will run through Thursday and include some 50 navy ships and 45 aircraft and helicopters.
On the weekend, 150 U.S. Marines from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit practiced an amphibious landing on a beach in Poland before joining up with troops from Spain, Romania and Poland.
“The most important thing for this exercise is the interoperability across all NATO allies,” said US Maj. Jackson Thornton. “Building that interoperability for future contingencies is the most important thing that Baltops goes after, every year since 1972.”
The drills are organized by NATO’s Naval Striking and Support Forces and the U.S. 6th fleet.
Major gas pipelines run across the Baltic seabed from Russia and Norway to Germany, Poland and other European nations.
Security concerns have increased in the region since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 and increased its hostile activity in the Baltic Sea area.
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