This
week, NATO's enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) Battlegroup Poland conducted Exercise
‘Bull Run 12’ in northeastern Poland, near the so-called Suwalki-gap, a 100 km
long land corridor marking the border between Poland and Lithuania. It connects
the NATO-member Baltic States to Poland and the rest of NATO. ‘Bull Run 12’ is
a multinational rapid response exercise that tests interoperability between the
US-led eFP Battlegroup Poland and the Polish 15th Mechanized
Infantry Brigade, and the ability to effectively move NATO units over long
distances and conduct defence operations. It should also ensure the Battlegroup
is fully ready and capable to respond to any potential adversaries. Parts of the
exercise were attended by the Polish Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak,
according to whom the manoeuvres are more than a usual meeting on the firing
range. "It will not only be a joint exercise of Polish, American, British,
Romanian and Croatian units, but also a demonstration to the local population
that the military is not only present on their training grounds, that they are
the guardians of our homeland and active, trained and well-oiled troops,"
said the Polish Defence Minister. The multinational NATO eFP Battlegroup Poland,
led by the US, is based in Bemowo Piskie, near Orzysz in the north-east of the
country, and is supported by contingents from Croatia, Romania and the UK.
In
Lithuania, the German-led eFP Battlegroup (BG) has concluded Exercise ‘Howling
Wolf II’ this week, practicing the cooperation between German armoured infantry
and engineers. This part of the exercise concentrated on the crossing of
waters, a natural obstacle for heavy military equipment like main battle tanks
or infantry fighting vehicles. The exercise scenario stipulated that a
potential enemy had blown up the only bridge over a river, thus impeding the
German ‘Panzergrenadier’-company of the eFP BG Lithuania to reach its
operational objective. So the engineers had to employ their armoured
vehicle-launched bridge ‘Biber’ to allow the infantry fighting vehicles
'Marder' to cross the river. ‘Howling Wolf’ has again demonstrated how
practicing together strengthens the mutual understanding between the different
military branches in a complex exercise scenario. Apart from Germany as the
lead nation, eFP Battlegroup Lithuania is composed of military contingents from
the Netherlands, Norway, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Belgium, Luxembourg, and
a civilian from Iceland.

In
the maritime domain, one of the permanent NATO squadrons, the Standing NATO
Maritime Group Two (SNMG2), trained with two Tunisian Navy vessels in the
Western Mediterranean Sea on 22 June. The exercise was conducted in the waters
north of Bizerte, Tunisia, with the NATO and Tunisian ships performing a
communication drill, followed by a series of manoeuvers and concluded by the
traditional ‘sailpast’ and a salute between the participating vessels. From the
Tunisian Navy, the Offshore Patrol Vessel ‘Syphax’ and the Fast Patrol Boat ‘Hamilcar’
took part in the exercise. The SNMG2, under Italian command since December last
year, was represented by the Italian Frigate ‘Fasan’ and the Turkish Frigate ‘Salihreis’.
“This training does not only have value in its execution, which demonstrated
the outstanding capability and immediate integration of the Tunisian Navy with
NATO forces, but has also opened a new chapter of further cooperation at sea
between Tunisia, NATO and all Allied nations,” said Italian Rear Admiral Paolo
Fantoni, Commander of SNMG2. Tunisia has a long-lasting cooperation with NATO, the
partnership falls under NATO’s Mediterranean Dialogue. The objectives are, for
both sides, to enhance interoperability, improving maritime security and
deterring potential terrorist threats at sea. Already at the end of last week, SNMG2
performed two days of exercises in the Aegean Sea with ships from the Hellenic
and Turkish navies. SNMG2 is one of four standing task groups that comprise the
maritime component of the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF), which is
part of the NATO Response Force (NRF). To respond to contingency situations
additional forces can be added to these groups, with the NATO command staff
onboard and the ships of the group as the nucleus, capable of providing timely
support to NATO operations.
The
first ships that will participate in NATO’s 2020 ‘Dynamic Mongoose’ exercises
have arrived in Iceland this week. In addition to Iceland, six NATO member
states will be participating in the exercises: the United States, the United
Kingdom, France, Canada, Norway, and Germany. They are contributing five
submarines, five warships, and five submarine search aircraft to the exercise.
The purpose of the ‘Dynamic Mongoose’ operation is to exercise submarine
warfare and anti-submarine warfare (ASW) both for submarines, ASW surface units
and maritime patrol aircraft in order to conduct sea control or sea denial
related naval tasks in preparation for future collective defence and crisis
response operations. NATO has held similar exercises annually in Norwegian
territorial waters since 2012, with the exception of 2017, when they were held
off Iceland. It has now been decided that the exercises will be held
alternately in Icelandic and Norwegian waters. Iceland will provide facilities
in the security area of Keflavík Airport and the Icelandic Coast Guard will
participate in the exercises. The maneuvers will take place between 29 June and
10 July.