Mine countermeasures ships from eight NATO and ally navies are set to gather in the Baltic Sea at the end of May for the “Baltic Mine Countermeasures Squadron Exercise”.
The exercise is hosted by the German Navy’s 3rd Mine Minesweeping Squadron and is in its third iteration.
The two-week drill will involve seamanship and mine neutralization exercises.
Germany is deploying tender FGS Rhein and FGS Donau and minehunters FGS Weilheim and FGS Bad Rappenau. Other navies taking part include Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland in addition to EU partners Sweden and Finland.
The drill is scheduled to conclude on April 12.
The Baltic Mine Countermeasures Squadron Exercise was conceived as part of the Baltic Commanders Conference, a union of navy commanders from Denmark, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Sweden and Germany.
The conference was initiated by the Chief of the German navy in 2015.