On January 3 Lieutenant Commander Egidijus Oleškevičius (Lithuanian Navy) will replace Lieutenant Commander Dmitrijs Jankovs (Latvian Navy) who was the commander of the Baltic Naval Squadron (BALTRON) in 2012 to lead the unit throughout 2013.
The future BALTRON Commander (COMBALTRON) Lt Cdr Egidijus Oleškevičius is an experienced naval officer whose career in the Lithuanian Navy kicked off in 2002. He began his military service aboard Kuršis (M51) mine hunter and sweeper where he rotated with success across all the positions of command, during frequent 6-12 month standby periods of Kuršis (M51) in BALTRON, Standing NATO Response Force Mine Counter Measure Groups (SNMCMG) and the NATO Response Force (NRF). The ship has successfully fulfilled all the deployments with multinational maritime units to military training events and operations in the Baltic Sea and beyond. In 2012 Lt Cdr Egidijus Oleškevičius gained experience in directing a multinational staff in the second highest position of command in BALTRON - as the chief of the BALTRON Joint Staff. The officer received his basic officer's training at the German Naval Academy, improved his qualification in a series of military international courses, he also studied at the U.S. Naval Staff College in 2010. He is a certificated graduate of the General Jonas Žemaitis Lithuanian Military Academy - a holder of a Master's degree in military diplomacy.
Representatives of the navies of the Baltic countries are delegated to the BALTRON Staff on a rotational basis for one year service period. The BALTRON Staff includes five members, however, during large multinational exercises the BALTRON Staff is often complemented by military personnel from other countries. Ships are contributed to BALTRON on a 6-to-12 month rotational basis, ordinarily the unit is made up by a support ship and two minehunters. This year Lithuania will commit command and support ship Jotvingis (N42) to BALTRON which will replace mine countermeasures ship M52 Sūduvis after a half-year duty in the unit.
According to the BALTRON Activity Plan 2013, the Squadron's staff and ships are planned to be sent to a series of staff training events in Belgium, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Sweden.
The Baltic countries' naval unit BALTRON was established in 1998. It includes naval assets committed by the Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian Navies and a multinational staff formed by representatives of the respective countries. Among the key tasks of the BALTRON is hunt for and neutralisation of naval mines and other unexploded ammunition remaining on the Baltic seafloor from World War I and World War II. Completion of tasks in BALTRON is an excellent training for standby in the NATO Response Force or deployments with the Standing NATO Response Force Mine Counter Measure Group (SNMCMG1).
In 2013 two Lithuanian and two Latvian naval officers will be appointed to serve in the BALTRON Staff along with the new commander, and one Lithuanian naval officer will be redeployed after the service in BALTRON in 2012.
POC: CIMIC Officer of the Lithuanian Navy Lt (N) Antanas Brencius, cell phone no. 00370 698 18 196.
