NATO nations launch exercises to protect the Baltic Sea coast

10 September, 2023 Illustrative photo of NATO ships. Photo from open sources NATO countries have launched large-scale exercises to protect the northern coast of the Baltic Sea, mainly covering the coasts of Latvia and Estonia.

ERR reported on this. The exercises were planned and conducted under the leadership of the German Navy Headquarters and involved 14 countries, including the United States and Canada. A total of 3,000 servicemen, up to 30 ships, and 15 aircraft are involved in the exercise.

The exercise will be a training program to deploy allied forces in the Baltic Sea and amphibious landings in case of war.

Illustrative photo of NATO ships. Photo from open sources

"This is the first time that the defense of the Baltic Sea will be practiced in real conditions," Lieutenant Commander Ott Laanemets, Commander of the naval mine countermeasures division, shared. For the first time, the USS Mesa Verde amphibious transport dock of the United States Navy, which can accommodate 800 soldiers and equipment, is involved in the exercise.

"First we have to break through the Baltic Sea. You have to first win the air battle, then the surface battle, and then the minefield battle. And then you could deliver something to land," Laanemets described.

Finland and Sweden are also participating in the exercise, but this time, their contribution will be strengthened by their NATO membership, which Sweden has yet to formalize.

Illustrative photo of NATO ships. Photo from open sources

"The Finnish and Swedish navies are specialists in coastal warfare, especially in the geographical conditions of these two countries, i.e. on the archipelago. And NATO doesn't have much of this competence," Laanemets said.

Kalev Stoicescu, a defense and security expert, believes that this is a timely demonstration of force against Russia.

"We have the capabilities to defend the Baltic Sea - if Russia is trying to dominate the Black Sea, and we see what it is doing there with the ports of Odesa and all its grain exports as if the Black Sea is all its property, then we will not allow Russia to dominate here in the Baltic Sea," Stoicescu said.

Militarnyi previously reported that the Romanian and US navies are organizing Sea Breeze 23.3 multinational exercises to be held in the Black Sea and the Danube Delta.