On May 15 Chief of Defence of Lithuania General Valdemaras Rupšys is in attendance at the European Union Military Committee meeting in Brussels, Belgium. The CHOD-level meeting held at the headquarters of the Council of the European Union addresses the EU military operations and missions and their progress, implementation of the EU Rapid Deployment Capacity and appoints the next EUMC Chair. Assistance to Ukraine is consistently high on the agenda, as well as coordination among the member states in acquisitions and delivery of equipment to aid UKRAine in the short-term and the long-term.
On May 16 Chiefs of Defence of the 32 NATO Allies and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine by a separate invitation will meet as the NATO Military Committee on the strategic Alliance issues in three planned sessions presided over NATO MC Chair Admiral Rob Bauer.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will join the opening session to speak of key priorities and challenges. The first session will bring together the NATO-Ukraine Council: Ukraine’s CHOD Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi will join the NATO CHODs via digital means to discuss the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, the front-line situation and the continued NATO and Allies’ assistance to Ukraine.
In the second session the Allied CHODs will review progress made in implementing the DDA Family of Plans adopted at the Vilnius Summit in June 2023 in Vilnius. U.S. European Command and Supreme Allied Commander Gen Christopher G. Cavoli will brief the CHODs on challenges, risks, and air defence capability development ahead of the NATO Summit in Washington.
The third session will focus on the Multi-Domain Operations Concept and the Warfare Development Agenda (WDA), including AI and digital transformation across all domains, which provides the plan for NATO’s military transformation for the next twenty years. More in-depth discussions will take place on aligning operations and defence planning within the NATO Defence Planning Process.
During the visit to Brussels Gen Rupšys will have bilateral meetings with Chief of Defence of the Netherlands Gen Onno Eichelsheim and Chief of Defence of Greece Gen Dimitrios Choupis.
The NATO and the EU Military Committees are the highest institutions of military oversight that form Common Security and Defence Policy and military missions and operations advice. Chiefs of Defence convene in Brussels for Committee meetings biannually.
Photo credit: SSgt Spc I.Budzeikaitė
