Lithuania is hosting its biggest ever NATO exercises / Photo from NATO.int
Lithuania is hosting its biggest ever international NATO exercises, Iron Sword 2014, at the Gaižiūnai and Pabradė training grounds, the country’s defense ministry has reported.
About 2,500 soldiers from the Czech Republic, Canada, Estonia, the United States, Britain, Lithuania, Germany, Hungary, and Luxembourg will take part in the exercises, Ukraine’s TSN television news service reported on Monday.
The exercises will involve more than 300 pieces of military equipment of various types, including Bradley tracked infantry fighting vehicles, heavy tracked engineering vehicles, M113 armored personnel carriers, and Stryker, Fuchs, APC-80 and APC-80 AM wheeled armored vehicles.
During the exercises NATO servicemen will practice liaising between NATO member military commands, coordinating actions, and testing their readiness to conduct defensive, offensive and stabilization operations.
Lithuanian and NATO troops will also practice rapid responses to simulated situations, developing their ability to work together, Lithuania’s defense ministry said.