UK to strengthen its military presence in Estonia
In 2019, Great Britain will strengthen its military presence in the Baltic States. 20 tanks will be deployed to Estonia, and the Royal Navy will conduct exercises in the Baltic Sea, reports ERR news agency, citing Gary Brooks, the British military attaché in Estonia.
The UK will hold a rotation of British troops in Estonia in 2019. 10 tanks will be sent to Great Britain, and they will be replaced by 20 armored vehicles. From April to August, British fighter jets Eurofighter Typhoon will be based at the Ämari Air Base, which was built for the needs of the USSR Air Force in 1945. In July 2019, the Estonian and British troops will conduct military exercises in the country. They will involve ground forces and ships of the British fleet, as well as the royal aviation.
“All these maneuvers are exclusively individual. We must always be ready to take the opportunity to combine the actions of both ground and air forces or, for example, infantry and navy. In fact, all these maneuvers are individual. If we consider each case separately, their coordination will not be a big problem, so we can easily organize the joint work of different groups of troops,” said attaché Gary Brooks.
In 2016, NATO member countries agreed to deploy four multinational combined battalions, with a total of 4 thousand troops, in Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and Poland.
NATO forces regularly hold military exercises in the Baltic States, including in Estonia. For example, in June, the Ramstein Alloy exercises were held in Estonia and involved the air forces of the Alliance and partner countries. Ämari Air Base served as the base for the exercises. In addition to local pilots, pilots from France, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Germany, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden and Finland took part in the military exercises.