November 14, Chief of Defence of the Kingdom of Norway Admiral Haakon Bruun-Hanssen arrived in Lithuania for a two-day work visit.
The Norwegian delegation led by the Chief of Defence will first visit the soldiers in Norway at the moment training in General Silvestras Žukauskas Training Area in Pabradė as part of the NATO enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) Battle Group in Lithuania. The guests will also view the Urban Warfare Training Facility in the training area and observe an urban warfare operation conducted by the Norwegian soldiers.
Then Admiral H. Bruun-Hanssen will proceed to Rukla to meet with Commander of the Mechanised Infantry Brigade Iron Wolf Colonel Mindaugas Steponavičius and the Commander of the eFP Battle Group integrated into the Brigade, Lieutenant General Thorsten Gensler, also with the command and soldiers of the Norwegian detachment.
On November 15 the guest will meet with his Lithuanian counterpart Lieutenant General Jonas Vytautas Žukas in Vilnius to discuss aspects of bilateral and multilateral cooperation.
Over 200 soldiers with Brigade Nord and the Telemark Battalion of the Norwegian Armed Forces have been serving in the eFP in Lithuania since the middle of this year.
Lithuanian-Norwegian defence cooperation
Lithuania and Norway have close bilateral military relations in defence policy planning, training and joint projects. Lithuania seeks to sustain and develop military cooperation with Norway because both countries have a similar approach to Trans-Atlantic relations, political and security issues. The two countries are also bound by NATO membership, participation in joint international forums, and geographical proximity.
Lithuania and Norway are members of the Nordic-Baltic Eight (NB8) and the Nordic-Baltic Defence Cooperation (NORDEFCO) formats.
Several tens of troops from different services and commands of the Lithuanian Armed Forces have been deployed to train in Norway annually for the past decade. Lithuanian and Norwegian soldiers train side by side in NATO and the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) formats, and conducted a joint standby for the EU Nordic Battle Group in the first semester of 2015.
Norway was the first among the Western states to donate military equipment to Lithuania: AD-STORM class coastal patrol boat (LNS Dzūkas P31) was given in 1994, and a 40 mm anti-aircraft gun added in 1998. In 2001 Lithuania hire-purchased two more AD-STORM vessels, in 2004 a contract on transferring Norway's RBS-70 long-range air defence systems to Lithuania was signed. Later, in April 2006 Lithuania purchased a Vidar class mine countermeasures ship from Norway and training course for the Lithuanian crew. On October 26 of this year the Lithuanian Air Force m. signed a EUR 110 million contract with Norway's Kongsberg on the procurement of NASAMS mid-range air defence systems for the Lithuanian Air Force.
Spokesperson for the Chief of Defence of Lithuania Major Mindaugas Neimontas
Contacts: (+370 5) 278 5091, +370 682 25359, mindaugas.neimontas@mil.lt
Photo courtesy of: www.forsvaret.no
