Latvia: Final Planning for Upcoming Military Exercises Underway

The Final Coordination Conference for the upcoming military exercises “Steadfast Jazz 2013” and “Baltic Host 2013” is currently underway in Riga, Latvia.

The conference, which is taking place from the 9th – 11th September, includes over 250 participants from NATO military staff as well as participating nations. This is the final planning event for both exercises which are scheduled for the beginning of November. During the conference the organisation of exercises, including hosting them in Latvia, is being discussed. As announced earlier, NATO and partner nations will conduct exercise “Steadfast Jazz 2013” in Latvia and Poland from 2 – 9 November 2013. The exercise is designed to train and test NATO Response Force (NRF).

The event involves about 6,000 personnel from many Allied and partner nations. A command and control exercise will be conducted at the Adazi Base, Latvia and several other headquarters locations across the Alliance. In addition, the multinational troops will be involved in a live exercise in Poland’s Drawsko Pomorskie Training area. At the conclusion of the exercise, headquarters staff from Joint Force Command Brunssum will be officially certified to lead NATO joint operations in 2014.

The NATO Response Force is a highly ready and technologically advanced multinational force made up of land, air, maritime and Special Forces components that the Alliance can deploy quickly wherever needed.

To date, 17 such NATO Response Force certification exercises have been held, with elements hosted in 14 different countries. The goal is to make sure that NRF troops are ready to deal with any situation in any environment.

In conjunction with “Steadfast Jazz 2013”, exercise “Baltic Host 2013” will be conducted in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. It is a Command Post Exercise aimed at training the defence sectors and other state institutions to provide Host Nation Support while receiving the Allied troops. “Baltic Host” exercises have been conducted annually since 2009 and are led by each of the Baltic countries on a rotation basis. Latvia is the leading nation of the exercise this year.

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Press Release, September 11, 2013; Image: NATO ACO