Group of NATO ships arrive in Lithuania’s port city

Five NATO ships assigned to Standing NATO Mine Counter-Measures Group ONE (SNMCMG1) arrived in Klaipėda for a scheduled port visit during the Group’s deployment to the Baltic to enhance maritime security and NATO’s readiness in the region, Allied Maritime Command reported.
Led by Commander Eirik Otterbu (NOR N), SNMCMG1 is currently composed of the Norwegian support vessel HNoMS VALKYRIEN (flagship), which will lead the Dutch mine hunter HNLMS MAKKUM, the Belgian mine hunter BNS BELLIS, the Norwegian minesweeper HNoMS OTRA, and the Estonian mine hunter ENS ADMIRAL COWAN.

SNMCMG1 was greeted upon arrival in port by Rear Admiral Robert Kamensky, NATO Allied Maritime Command Deputy Chief of Staff Submarines and Commander NATO Submarine Command.During the port visit, Rear Admiral Kamensky and the SNMCMG1 staff will meet with numerous Lithuanian military and civilian officials, to include the Commander of the Lithuanian Navy and the Mayor of Klaipėda.  The ships’ crews will participate in various activities with their Lithuanian hosts.
“Collective defense is the cornerstone of our Alliance” said Vice Admiral Hudson.  “SNMCMG1’s operations in the Baltic and port visit to Klaipėda send a clear message that NATO is prepared to meet and deter any threat to the Alliance populations and territory.”

During the Baltic deployment, the ships will participate in a robust program of operations at sea, numerous port visits, and the Historic Ordnance Disposal operation OPEN SPIRIT, hosted by Latvia later this month.


http://www.lithuaniatribune.com/67533/group-of-nato-ships-arrive-in-lithuanias-port-city-201467533/

NATO's Exercise Joint Warrior 2014 Concludes

From Mar. 31 to Apr. 12, Joint Warrior 14-1 saw over 35 warships, 25 types of aircraft and more than 13,000 military personnel focused on a realistic simulation of a live operation.

Royal Navy ships, submarines and aircraft together with NATO partners have completed the first Exercise Joint Warrior for 2014 off the coast of Scotland.

The flagship Joint Warrior training exercise has been the most complicated and largest exercise with 33 ships trained, 3 submarines, 48 fixed wing aircraft, 40 Rotary Wing aircraft and over 1,750 training objectives facilitated.

In total a staggering 13,584 personnel were trained from 9 Nations from including the UK, France, Denmark, Norway and US. Maritime patrol aircraft from as far away as New Zealand and Canada also attended to join in the exercise.Joint Warrior exercises run twice a year – in the spring and autumn – with the spring session having just come to an end.

Joint Warrior is a tri-service exercise and the spring session saw elements of Army and RAF working alongside Royal Navy ships including HMS Bulwark, HMS Illustrious, frigates, destroyers and mine hunters as well as negotiating the unpredictable British weather and rolling seas.
It is coordinated and planned by a joint team of Royal Navy and RAF personnel based at Northwood HQ, London, augmented by up to 222 personnel from the three services, many of whom were are Reservists.



Europe’s largest military exercise marks first deployment of USN patrol squadron’s P-8A Poseidon in UK

P-8A Poseidon  - US Navy

65 years of NATO

The North Atlantic Treaty was signed in Washington, D.C. on 4 April 1949. It included the five Treaty of Brussels states (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, and United Kingdom) plus the United States, Canada, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark and Iceland.




Russian view - exact opposite

Romania makes daily surveillance and air police missions with the AWACS of NATO

Bulgarian air force, made up of Russian MiG 29 fighters, had in the past several months launched more flights than in the previous 20 years.

Yesterday Bulgaria’s president Rosen Plevneliev has suggested Russia is intentionally provoking extraordinary flights of fighters from Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey by jets by violating the edge of NATO airspace over the Black Sea.

The minister of defence Mircea Dusa stated on Wednesday that Romania makes daily surveillance and air police missions with AWACS of NATO, Mediafax says. Dusa made this statement when asked if the air forces have been alerted for possible recognition flights made by planes of the Russian army in the vicinity of the air space.He refused to answer if there have been such flights of recognition made by the planes of the Russian army.

Bulgaria alerted its air forces for almost 30 times in the last two months as an answer to the increase in the number of recognition flights made by the planes of the Russian army in the vicinity of its air space, stated on Tuesday the Bulgarian minister of defence, quoted by Reuters.Both countries in the West as well as Moscow made a series of military manoeuvres in the context of attaching the Ukrainian peninsula Crimea to Russia.

NATO announced on Tuesday that ‘ they take into consideration all options’ and studies new measures to consolidate its military presence in eastern Europe in the context where Russia did not give any sign regarding the withdrawal of the troops placed along the border with Ukraine.The ministry of defence on 11 March said that a plane E-3A AWACS of NATO made a flight in the air space of Romania on the pre-established routes, according to the approval of the Council North Atlantic, the flight being part of a planned flight executed regularly, with the purpose of training the forces and the means of air police.

The AWACS operates in the Aircraft E-3A – part of the NATO forces of Early Warning, whose major mission is the ensurance of air supervision, command, control and communication during flights in the NATO air space.The planes operte at heights of over 9,000 metres with a surveillance span of the radar of 31,000 square km and can detect targets which fly at low heigths, in the limit of 400 km and at medium heights, in the limit of 520 km, the press release of the Major Staff of the Air Forces says.

NATO and Swedish Fighter Jets train together over the Baltic Sea

Two U.S. fighter jets under NATO command were scrambled from the Siauliai air base in Lithuania Tuesday (1 April 2014) to exercise with two Swedish Gripen fighter aircraft over the Baltic Sea, in a training event designed to improve coordination and emergency procedures.

The Baltic Regional Training event is conducted several times a year. The exercises bring fighter jets from NATO countries together with the air forces of Sweden and Finland, which are longstanding partners of the Alliance.  Search & Rescue and air combat training are included in the two-day event, which is designed to enhance the ability of fighter jets from NATO countries and regional partners to operate with each other effectively.

For the past ten years, air forces across NATO member states have patrolled the skies over the Baltic Allies - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - on a rotational basis, as the three Allies do not have fighter aircraft of their own. NATO’s air-policing mission protects the safety and integrity of Alliance airspace on a 24/7 basis.
The United States is currently responsible for policing Baltic airspace, from January to April 2014. For US Air Force Captain Tyler Clark, the chance to work with the Swedish air force is an important part of his mission.  “Today’s scramble had us training with the Swedish Air Force to assist an aircraft which was simulating a loss of all communications, this kind of training is invaluable,” he said.  “NATO’s airspace borders that of Sweden and Finland and we have to work together to ensure safety of all our airways.”

NATO normally has four to six fighter jets deployed for the air-policing rotations. In light of the current crisis in Ukraine, the United States has reinforced the air-policing mission with additional aircraft. Many European Allies have also offered additional planes to the mission.

http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/news_108492.htm

NATO Steps Up Military Pressure on Russia

NATO continued its military build-up on the Russian border even as US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met in Paris Sunday evening to discuss the conflict over Ukraine. The meeting, involving four hours of “frank” talks, ended with no breakthrough and separate news conferences.

The two men met after Russian President Vladimir Putin indicated his readiness to make certain concessions. Last Friday he phoned US President Barack Obama in Saudi Arabia to discuss a “diplomatic resolution to the crisis.”

On Sunday, Kerry dismissed Lavrov’s proposal for a Federal Ukraine that was not part of NATO, cynically declaring that was “up to the Ukrainians”—that is, the fascist-led regime in Kiev backed by Washington.


Read more:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/nato-steps-up-military-pressure-on-russia/5375957?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=nato-steps-up-military-pressure-on-russia