Baltic Defence Review No. 3 Volume 2000

The – BALTRON By Juozas ALSAUSKAS, Lithuanian , Commander of BALTRON

he three - , tablishment of the BALTRON. On 28 accordance with the United Nations Char- T , began military co- August BALTRON was inaugurated. Bal- ter. operation in the defence area shortly af- tic Naval Squadron (BALTRON) is a per- It is noted as a precondition for plan- ter regaining independence. The defence- manently established tri-national standing ning and implementation of BALTRON related co-operation has resulted in four Naval Force with mine-countermeasures activities that BALTRON will train and military projects such as BALBAT, capabilities. The operational task of act in accordance with NATO/PfP naval BALTNET, BALTDEFCOL and BALTRON is to counter mine threats, to and staff procedures, both in the fleet and BALTRON. The idea to establish a joint reduce environmental damage in the ter- in the staff. The command and commu- naval unit was brought up in 1995. The ritorial waters and economic zones of the nication language is English, and same year started the first trilateral Baltic Baltic States and to enhance the security BALTRON activities apply relevant naval exercise AMBER SEA-95. In the end of peacetime seagoing. It is the priority NATO/PfP procedures and standards. of 1996 the practical preparations for the of the project to contribute to the devel- BALTRON project were launched, and opment of the national naval forces and Activities undertook the role as the lead- to raise the self-defence capabilities of the ing nation in the international co-ordi- Baltic States and to develop interchange- BALTRON reached its first operational nation of the project. In April 16 1998 ability with NATO/PfP forces. milestone in September 1998 when the the Ministers of Defence of the Republic Another aspiration is to have a capa- squadron as a multinational naval unit of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania signed bility for participation in multinational participated in the international mine the formal agreement concerning the es- peace support operations conducted in countermeasures exercise OPEN SPIRIT-

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98. The main goals of exercise were to BALTRON staff was involved in tasking serves for six months at a time. Currently allow BALTRON forces to familiarise and monitoring the situation, command- squadron is composed of Staff and Sup- themselves wit NATO procedures and to er’s briefings and message drafting, prepa- ply ship LNS Vetra (Lithuanian Navy bring BALTRON communications up to ration and conducting pre-sail and post- ship), ENS Kalev (Estonian NATO levels. exercise briefings. The co-operation of Navy ship) and LVNS Imanta (Latvian During exercise U.S. BALTOPS-99 (an BALTRON and MCMFN was a very valu- Navy ship). At the same time BALTRON American invitational multinational mari- able experience both for the ships and ships also remain integral parts of national time exercise conducted in the Baltic re- for the staff as well. of the Baltic States. At the moment gion) BALTRON staff was working in 1999 was first full year of operations BALTRON units have been dismissed to multinational staff shoulder to shoulder for BALTRON. BALTRON conducted national bases for the crew change, ship with naval officers from , Germany, activities aimed to prepare for stated aims. maintenance and crew rest. In accordance UK and Norway due to improve overall Beside preparations for main tasks, very with the Annual BALTRON activities plan co-ordination and understanding. So the important was the presence of the Naval for year 2000 the force will be collected issuing orders and reporting has followed forces of the Baltic States in the Baltic again in Liepaja on the 20 of March and NATO standards and procedures. Sea, promotion of the NATO integration will continue their duties. Mine Countermeasures (MCM) Exer- process and optimised use of resources. The BALTRON staff has started work cise PAS SEX- 99 between BALTRON and 1999 was difficult year but at the same October 1997 in . The staff is fully Mine Countermeasures Force North-west- time it gave to all Baltic Navies first expe- operational since April 1998 and consists ern Europe (MCMFN) based on request rience in operating the combined squad- of the following positions: Chief of staff, from Baltic States to NATO was used to ron during around the year. Operations officer, Communications create the framework for tasking of ships Officer and Public Relation Officer. Com- in order to facilitate procedural and tac- Structure and Composition mander BALTRON and staff officers are tical training. Prior to sailing BALTRON appointed for a period of at least 12 staff was embarked on a NATO staff ship. BALTRON is comprised of a com- months. Currently the staff is organised Tasking authority for all participants were bined tri-national staff and national ships as an operational staff without the admin- Commander MCMFN and Commander from three Baltic Naves. Each nation pro- istrative capacity and it is designed to BALTRON. During actual exercise vides 1-2 vessels. Each ship in the force operate on board a Staff ship. During

34 Baltic Defence Review No. 3 Volume 2000 the winter phase BALTRON staff organ- it can detect mine like objects. When it BARANOVA. On May 1999 she gradu- ised more extensive staff planning using find a mine, a remote controlled robot is ated from the United States Naval Acad- on-shore facility located at the Estonian submerged in the water and places an ex- emy in Annapolis with degree in Marine Naval base. Also staff can use on temporary plosive on the mine to detonate it. Engineering and the rank of Sublieuten- basis other naval facilities in the Baltic States Two minehunters are in service with ant. Since June 1999, she has been serving as agreed in the annual activity plan. the Baltic States (LVNS Namejs and LNS in BALTRON. In this period she took Suduvis). These vessels are equipped with part in exercises OPEN SPIRIT-99, AM- BALTRON Units a modem mine detection and classifica- BER SEA -99 and MCOPLAT-99. For this tion system. Their crews have been exten- last operation she worked as staff officer The force employs two basic types of sively trained in Germany prior to the on the Task Group staff. ships (donation of Germany) to clear ships arriving in Latvia and Lithuania. Elvira BARANOVA tells that there is a mines: and mine hunter. The During exercise MCMOPLAT-99 LVNS big difference between the organisation minesweeper methodically travels back Namejs impressed every one by finding and function of the US Navy and the and forth across an area at the sea, drag- and disposing of the first mine in the . The differences come from ging a buoy that cuts the cord from any entire operation. the size of the state, the economic and mines that are anchored on the sea floor. political situation, the geographical loca- The mine floats to the surface of the sea Personnel tion, and the historical background. How- where it can be seen and detonated. The ever, the basics are the same in virtually minesweeper also deals with influence Our Navies are very young, and are any modern military: the military disci- mines by simulating acoustic and mag- working hard to establish themselves in pline, the leadership principles, task per- netic fields of shipping with a towed so- the new environment. There are a lot of formance standards, etc. The training con- lenoid. The minesweepers operating with young officers coming back from differ- ducted during the four years in Annapolis BALTRON (FRAUENLOB and ent countries’ naval schools and academies, instilled a good sense of all that, plus it KONDOR class ships) are considered in- who are willing to use what they have was an outstanding stress management shore sweepers. learned to help the progress. One of such workshop. It also helped to attain a very The minehunter (LINDAU class) officers is the Executive Officer of the broad view of the world’s militaries. searches ahead with the sonar with which Estonian Navy ship OLEV Elvira Knowing the differences between various

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navies and having the chance to see how • Training of the personnel, units and • Communications operators, techni- things are done and organised elsewhere squadron during deployment to cians and instructors training in Danish helps to get new ideas for own young navy. BALTRON. Signal School; Sublieutenant BARANOVA insists that Training provided by sending nations: • Specialized Damage Control train- being the only female in the squadron is Each sending nation is responsible for ing in damage Control tough at times, but at the same time it is a the preparation of its national units (per- school. This training involves firefighting, good opportunity for her colleagues to get sonnel and ships) assigned to BALTRON. shoring and rescue at sea. used to the thought that there will be more National units must be fully operational • Divers training in Norway. women actively involved in sailing and mine for the time of assignment. It is expected Training conducted during deploy- warfare. Having women as part of the ship’s that person joining BALTRON be trained ment to the squadron. company is a common thing in the US to perform assigned duties. For a ship, it During deployment to the squadron Navy now. For the Estonian Navy, how- is expected to be trained up to conduct training is executed mainly on squadron ever, it is a new experience, as in fact it is all assigned tasks on unit level and be ca- level in order to prepare the squadron to in Latvian Navy and Lithuanian Navy. pable to work together in the squadron. conduct MCM operations in the future. Communicators proved to be insuffi- In order to execute training on a squad- Training cient. All these had impact upon ron level BALTRON has conducted squad- The training system within the BALTRON performance during second ron exercises and participated in multi- BALTRON project is oriented in three part of the year and required to allocate national exercises. These have been mainly directions: time for basic exercises instead of scenario small to medium scale scenario based • Training of the staff personnel and based exercises. MCM exercises. Beside MCM, seamanship, units assigned to BALTRON before join- Training provided by supporting nations. communications and surface gunnery have ing BALTRON and provided by a send- Supporting nations have provided been trained during these exercises. ing nation. training support in following areas: • Training of the personnel assigned • Officers MCM staff training in Bel- International support to BALTRON before joining BALTRON gian- Minewarfare school; and provided through BALTRON project • Communications officer training in From its beginning the BALTRON by supporting nations. ; project has attracted wide international

36 Baltic Defence Review No. 3 Volume 2000 support. The states supporting the estab- a threat to fishery and shipping. There- After an official request the Swedish lishment of BALTRON are Belgium, Den- fore, 1996 The Latvian Defence Minister Navy carried out Route Survey in the mark, , , Germany, Nether- Krastins wrote a letter to the German Baltic States beginning in 1994. Follow lands, Norway, Poland, , United Defence Minister Ruhe proposing a Ger- operations were called MCOPEST, Kingdom, and United States. The inter- man - Latvian exercise with the aim to MCOPLAT and MCOPLIT. During the national support to BALTRON is focused sweep the mines which were found in past five years the has per- on providing equipment, training and former minefield. The result was that 16 formed seven mine and ammunition clear- expertise advice. Supporting nations have mines, 3 torpedoes and 1 bomb were ance operations in the Baltic. 97 mines, 57 organised and conducted: countermined. Germany and The Baltic units of unexploded ammunition have been • Full set of diving equipment for those States agreed upon an annual Exercise in destroyed in a 900 km2 area. divers (Norway); the Spirit of . Since Last operation MCOPLAT-99 (Mine • Setting up the communications training 1996 German Navy Minewarfare Flotilla Counter-measure Operation in Latvia, centre in Tallinn and installation of com- leads an annual Exercise conducted in 1999), organised by the Swedish Navy’s munication equipment by Danish Navy; waters of Baltic States. The exercise is called 21st MCM Flotilla from 18 October to 2 • Providing the language laboratory OPEN SPIRIT. It aims to effectively fos- November 1999, successfully located and by United States; ter the maritime co-operation in the Bal- destroyed 35 mines in waters of Riga Gulf. • Providing of degaussing (electromag- tic Sea area in the spirit of PfP, to coun- Overall, 19 ships and 530 men from 10 net and acoustic management) by Sweden; ter ordnance’s (mines, torpedoes, bombs, countries participated in operation. Con- • Sending staff officers to BALTRON shells, etc.) in the , thereby con- tinuous support by the Supporting States staff in order to supervise and support tributing to the reduction of the envi- is important for the further development the staff personal. ronmental damage in the area and to pro- of the BALTRON project. Especially the During the First and Second World vide an opportunity for all participating support from states with experience in Wars parts of the Baltic Sea were mined. units to increase their individual knowl- NATO mine countermeasure operations Recent mine clearance operations in the edge and capability. is encouraged. Future development is coastal waters along Estonia, Latvia and The overall result of ordnance found concentrated on improvement of sweep- Lithuania have shown that remaining only in the Riga Gulf is as follows: 38 ing capabilities and expanding mines and ordnance in the area still pose mines, 8 bombs, and 12 torpedoes. minehunting capability.

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