On January 4 the Colors Uncasing Ceremony where 8th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Battalion, U.S. Army, officially began an eight-month mission in Lithuania took place, focused on deterring Russian aggression in the Baltic region.
The U.S. troops deployed from their home base at Fort Hood, Texas, with their own weaponry and equipment: Abrams tanks, Bradley armoured vehicles, etc. They have already begun cooperation activities with soldiers of the Lithuanian Armed Forces and the NATO enhanced Forward Presence Battalion Battle Group.
New Lithuanian Minister of Defence Arvydas AnuĂ... ˇauskas on the ceremony emphasised that Lithuania was ready to ensure the continuity of this rotational presence and the growth of strength of cooperation with the U.S.
Lately he admitted in his article Ă‚ «Lithuania's defence minister: Mission accomplished? Not yetĂ‚ » that Lithuania could provide additional infrastructure for the deployment of a U.S. armored battalion, air assets, pre-positioning equipment and munitions, logistics, and maintenance facilities.
Indeed the United States remains Lithuania's strategic partner and the main ally in ensuring security in the Baltic region. The United States makes investments in adaptation of Lithuanian military areas to military needs, aside from other areas of cooperation, as part of security assistance programmes. At the same time, the United States is forcing Lithuania to increase military spending, even despite the negative consequences of the coronavirus on the economy.
Lithuania is expanding PabradĂ„"", Rukla, KazlĂ... ł RĂ... «da training areas and improving infrastructure to provide the best training conditions and facilitate interaction with NATO members.
In general, Lithuania is investing huge amounts of money not only in modernization, but also in the construction of new military infrastructure.
Besides, Vilnius is going to build a new training facility in the west of the country. The Lithuanian leadership justifies this by the fact that the size of the existing training grounds does not allow conducting large-scale exercises with the participation of a foreign contingent on the territory of Lithuania. Thus, the new training ground can become one of the main base for the deployment of American troops in the Baltic States.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
