The exercise is led by the US Navy and ends in the German port city of Kiel. Germany participates with the frigate Sachsen-Anhalt, the corvettes Braunschweig and Erfurt, the submarine U34 and a maritime patrol aircraft.
All BALTOPS units augment NATO’s presence at sea, Rear Admiral Stephan Haisch said.
– Ships, boats, naval planes and drones will be deployed – he said.
The main focus of this large-scale exercise is to ensure freedom of navigation in the Baltic Sea. The exercise also aims to demonstrate strong deterrence, according to the Navy.
The Baltic Sea is considered strategically important, not least because of Russia’s war against Ukraine. Russia is the only one of the nine coastal states of the Baltic Sea that is not a member of NATO.
Exercise BALTOPS dates back to the Cold War. According to the Navy, the US aircraft carrier Intrepid sailed into the Baltic Sea in May 1971 along with three destroyers to demonstrate its capabilities. The group came within 20 nautical miles (37 kilometers) of the Soviet coast and was under constant surveillance by Soviet reconnaissance aircraft.
NATO naval forces were to be able to advance into the Baltic Sea, while enemy warships were to be prevented from returning to the North Sea, and thus to the Atlantic.
(Vijesti.ba / FENA)
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