From December 5 to 9 Lithuania will host the concept development conference for communications interoperability exercise Combined Endeavor 2012 involving approximately 150 representatives from 35 countries and organisations.
Combined Endeavor (CE) is a U.S. European Command-sponsored, multinational initiative intended to encourage interoperability and information exchange among nations.
"In 1996 Lithuania joined the exercise with only several manually operated field switches. This September our specialists deployed the brigade-level telecommunications network providing all the necessary services", spoke Chief of the Joint Headquarters Col Vilmantas Tamošaitis about the benefit of the 17th exercise to communications and information systems (CIS) of the Lithuanian Armed Forces in the opening of the concept development conference on December 5.
The aim of Combined Endeavour 2012 is to encourage interoperability and information exchange among nations with common stability, security and sustainment goals, and objectives via communications networks and subsequent collaborative links.
During the concept development conference held in Vilnius the overall structure of the exercise, operational level technical planning and implementation for the next year's exercise will be agreed upon.
Exercise Director Lt Col Brian Heberlie stressed when talking about this year's exercise that it was important not only from the point of view of planning and testing technical means but also because it begins new partnerships and strengthens the already existing ones. "It is the human interoperability piece that truly ensures the work will get done," -said B. Heberlie.
Combined Endeavour 2012 will take place from September 7 to 20 in Germany. Lithuania will delegate several CIS specialists with mobile communications module and the majority of CIS units of the Lithuanian Armed Forces will join the exercise both from their permanent dislocation positions and field deployment.
Combined Endeavour was organised for the first time in Stuttgart, Germany. Participants of the series mainly benefit from the exercise by spotting shortfalls in their respective CIS, modernizing and integrating into other institutions. Experience from the exercise has been useful in crises response operations and missions since 1995.
PAO for JHQ Capt Marius Varna, phone no. 00370 686 35 407.
More information at: http://combinedendeavor.wordpress.com.
