January 1, EOD platoon based on Juozas Vitkus Engineer Battalion finished standby period in the NATO Response Force (NRF).
Its duty was taken over by an around 100-strong guard company based on Lithuanian Grand Duke Algirdas Motorised Infantry Battalion.
Around 30 EOD specialists of the Engineer Battalion had been conducting duty in the 15th rotation of NATO Response Force from July 2010.
Lithuanian unit assigned for duty in NRF was deployed in Lithuania throughout the duty period and continued combat training in the meanwhile. Lithuanian unit would operate as part of Polish EOD Company in case of NRF activation.
Guard company will be on standby in its permanent dislocation place, i.e. Rukla, maintaining high readiness and prepared for deployment to any NATO-led multinational operation if a decision was made to invoke NATO capabilities in a crisis region.
If NATO command had made the decision to activate NRF, Lithuania would be responsible for security of the Allied Joint Force Command, check-post procedures, convoy of leadership, and escort of logistic units, and ready to suppress unrest if such breaks out in the dislocation area.
The fixed six-month rotation period in NRF in effect till present has been prolonged to a year from 2011 after the NATO reform and changes made to NRF concept.
NATO Response Force is high readiness technologically advanced multinational NATO capability. NRF is manned by units committed by member states maintaining high readiness level in their home states for a set period of time to be capable to redeploy to operation region within an established period if a decision to invoke the force was made. NRF is deployable to the operation region within five days after making the decision. NRF includes land, air, naval and special forces components.
The decision to form NATO Response Force was announced by NATO members in Prague Summit in 2002. NRF is activated at the decision of the North Atlantic Council. For the first time NRF was activated to deliver disaster relief efforts in October 2005 to help earthquake-devastated Pakistan. Lithuania's contribution to the humanitarian operation was a water clearance unit formed on the basis of personnel and equipment of Lithuanian Grand Duke Vytenis Forward Support Battalion.
Lithuania has been committing troops to NRF since 2005. Water clearance unit, special operations forces squadrons, airmen, and mine countermeasures vessel of the Lithuanian Naval Force has conducted standby since then.
