Since 31 January, Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 1 (SNMCMG1) has been conducting Historical Ordinance Disposal Operations (HODOPS) in the North Sea in Dutch and Belgian territorial waters. All operations and activities were executed in close cooperation with the Royal Netherlands Navy and the Belgian Navy. NATO continues its commitment to safe waterways for all maritime traffic, and SNMCMG1 has been carrying out HODOPS of this kind for almost 50 years, since it’s initial conception as Standing Naval Forces Channel (STANAVFORCHAN) in 1973.
SNMCMG1 Conducting HODOPS in Dutch and Belgian territorial waters
EFP BG ESTONIA TRAINS IN THE SNOW WITH ESTONIA’S SCOUTSPATALJON
NATO troops from Enhanced Forward Presence Battlegroup Estonia (eFP BG Estonia), have been training alongside the Estonian Scoutspataljon (Scouts Battalion) and other Estonian Forces in exercise Wintercamp.
Exercise Wintercamp will allow participating forces to hone winter warfare techniques, thus acclimatising themselves to operations in the freezing cold and icy terrain of a Baltic winter. Without the close collaboration on collective defence that NATO facilitates, opportunities for the multinational forces that make up the eFP BG, would be significantly fewer and further between.

Infantry patrolling through the snowy Estonian forests during exercise Wintercamp
POLISH TROOPS DONATE BLOOD PLASMA TO HELP THOSE MOST AT RISK FROM COVID-19
eFP BG Poland’s partners, 15 Giżycka Brygada Zmechanizowana (15th Giżycka Mechanised Brigade), have been donating blood plasma to a regional blood donation centre to assist in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Blood plasma has been found effective at mitigating the impact of COVID-19.

Polish troops donating plasma