Nine countries will provide more than 2,000 personnel to the multinational Exercise Amber Hope 2011, which began in Lithuania on June 13, with more than 500 participants coming from abroad.
The Exercise will take place simultaneously in Pabradės Training Area and Lithuania's territorial waters of the Baltic Sea, involving military service members and civilians from seven NATO countries - Canada, Estonia, Latvia, Norway, Poland,
USA and Lithuania, and two NATO partner countries under the Partnership for Peace programme - Finland and Georgia. Armenia's, Azerbaijan's, Belarus', Kazakhstan's, Moldova's and Ukraine's armed forces and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe are expected to delegate observers for the Exercise.
Estonian representatives will also join the international Evaluation Team for the Exercise, and will contribute one
Infantry Company and several staff officers - in total, nearly one hundred and fifty personnel.
As in past training opportunities, the United States have deployed soldiers from the Pennsylvania National Guard. More than 50 soldiers are delegated to the exercise this year, and most of them are experts in different fields such as Public Affairs, Administration, Communications and Informational Systems, and Military Medicine.
Around a dozen soldiers with experiences in international missions like Afghanistan will represent Canada. Latvia will deploy a platoon-sized Home Guard unit and several staff officers. Poland, Norway and Georgia will also contribute to the exercise with staff officers.
Finland has made the greatest foreign personnel contribution to Amber Hope 2011. The Deputy Exercise Director, the commander of one of the two multinational battalions for the Exercise, more than 270 troops (dispersed among both battalions), and representatives in different sections of the Exercise Staff will be Finnish.
Lithuania will be represented by more than 1600 civilians and military in the Exercise. The largest contribution, made by the Lithuanian Grand Duchess Birutė Motorised Infantry Battalion, will form the basis for the 2nd multinational battalion. All branches of the Lithuanian Armed Forces - land, air, naval and special operations forces - will be represented across the elements of the Exercise structure.
This year, specialists from the Lithuanian Public Security Service (LPSS) will share experiences with Lithuanian and foreign military personnel. Several members from the LPSS will join the Exercise Training Team, while others will act in the 2nd multinational battalion.
Representatives of the Lithuanian Red Cross Society will also take part in the Lithuanian-conducted Exercise, and have done so since 1997. In this year's scenario, representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) will search for missing persons in the region of the fictitious conflict, deliver humanitarian assistance for victims, observe the adherence to the international humanitarian law, conduct negotiations, ensure the rights of detainees, etc.
The Amber Hope series has been held in Lithuania since 1995, and is aimed at enhancing the interaction of military units from NATO and Partnership for Peace program countries with a view of jointly conducting crisis response operations and strengthening military cooperation among members of the Alliance. During the Exercise, readiness of the Lithuanian Armed Forces to deliver Host Nation Support to incoming forces will be enhanced and evaluated.
Crisis response operations cover a spectrum of Non-Article 5 (collective defence) operations which encompass political, military and civilian activity initiated and executed in line with international law for conflict prevention, resolution of an ongoing conflict or crisis management. Such operations may be implemented to reach the objectives of humanitarian activity in the framework of the Alliance's goals.
The scenario for fictitious crisis response operations for Exercise Amber Hope, fictitiously mandated by the United Nations Security Council, was generated on the basis of real experiences of Lithuanian and foreign military personnel in multinational operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia.
Lithuanian Armed Forces have been organizing Amber Hope since 1995. The Last Amber Hope series was held in Klaipėda in 2007. This year, the Exercise is organized and conducted by the Joint Headquarters of the Lithuanian Armed Forces.
Note for media: POC for exercise-related queries: Head of Media Operations Section Capt Mindaugas Neimontas, cell phone 00370 640 45 380, neimontas@gmail.com
Media representatives are encouraged to visit the exercise area at Pabradė. Journalists will have the possibility to meet participants of the exercise, familiarize themselves with training and living conditions, and observe the exercise. On June 22, the Amber Hope Distinguished Visitors and Media day will be held at Pabradės Training Area.
Journalists willing to attend the Visitors and Media Day or observe the exercise should register and agree on arrival time with Captain Mindaugas Neimontas, Head of Media Operations Section during exercise "Amber Hope 2011", cell phone +370 640 45 380, neimontas@gmail.com
Foreign media representatives should additionally receive temporary permit (accreditation) from the Public Relations Department of the Ministry of National Defense of the Republic of Lithuania. To receive the permit, media representatives should address the Public Relations Department before visiting the exercise area at: + 370 5 2785 208 or email. vis@kam.lt and provide necessary documents for accreditation. The list of documents and clearance forms may be found at: http://www.kam.lt/en/new.html/ .
