On August 27 a formal deployment ceremony was held at Šiauliai Air Base of the Lithuanian Air Force for the 6th shift of Lithuanian-led Air Mentoring Team (AMT) responsible for training local helicopter pilots and helicopter maintenance personnel in Afghanistan.
Three members of the Air Base of the Lithuanian Air Force, two members of Weaponry and Equipment Depot of the Lithuanian Air Force, one member of the Air Defence Battalion and one Latvian representative will serve in AMT-6.
The troops were farewelled by Commander of the Lithuanian Air Force Major General Edvardas Mažeikis, Head of the Operations Board of the Joint Staff Colonel Egidijus Karvelis, leadership of the Air Base, servicemembers of the Lithuanian Air Force and families of the deployed shift.
The AMT-6 will provide training for Afghan helicopter pilots and technical maintenance personnel at Kandahar Airfield, south of Afghanistan. They will teach local personnel to plan squadron-level operations, to organise technical maintenance and repair works of aircraft, and assist in enhancing aircraft operation skills. Lithuanian personnel of the AMT-6 will be accompanied by troops from Belgium, Latvia and Ukraine.
Lithuania deployed an Air Mentoring Team at Kandahar Airport in February 2011 as part of NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan.
When Lithuanian-led Chaghcharan Provincial Reconstruction Team is fully withdrawn from the province of Ghor, Afghanistan this fall, the AMT will continue serving in NATO's ISAF operation till the end of 2014 as well as the Lithuanian Special Operations Squadron deployed in southern Afghanistan, National Support Element is charge of providing logistic support to Lithuanian military in Afghanistan, officers serving in NATO headquarters, and Protection Team of the Head of the Lithuanian Special Mission in Afghanistan.
Photo by Antanas Gedrimas
