Breaking news
Lithuania will open NATO Force Integration Unit in Vilnius for autumn of this year 11207153.
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Defence & Security News - Lithuania
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| Lithuania will open NATO Force Integration Unit in Vilnius for autumn of this year. | |||
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On July 9 the progress made in the establishment of a NATO headquarters, the NATO Force Integration Unit (NFIU) in Vilnius, its leadership, tasks and organisation will be presented to national defence leadership, foreign defence attaches in Lithuania, and media at the headquarters of the Joint Staff of the Lithuanian Armed Forces in Vilnius. The guests will tour the premises where the multinational headquarters is to be based. The NFIU is expected to be officially inaugurated this autumn.
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This NATO force integration cell is going to be one of NATO’s prepositioned headquarters in Lithuania which will facilitate deployment of the NATO Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF) and additional rapid response elements in our region. The NFIU will operate as an intermediate unit facilitating interoperability among national and NATO forces, i.e. contribute to defence planning, allied training and exercises, and liaison with NATO’s operational headquarters.
The multinational headquarters in Vilnius will comprise roughly 40 military personnel, half of them Lithuanian officers and NCOs, and the other half – military personnel assigned by allied nations. Throughout the first 3-year long rotation command for the NFIU will be provided by a Danish Army officer and a Lithuanian officer in the capacity of his deputy. Although the formal inauguration of the NFIU in Vilnius is expected to be held this autumn, the headquarters hosted by Lithuania as well as by other NATO countries are already in operation. In light of the Russian aggression in southeastern Ukraine and the changed security situation the NATO Summit in Wales in 2014 agreed to a Readiness Action Plan (RAP) which provides for setting up NATO Force Integration Units in the Baltic states, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria. The NFIUs are established to facilitate the deployment of the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force and additional high readiness elements in the region and thus maintain the Alliance’s responsiveness to the rapidly changing security situation. The NFIU in Vilnius will cooperate with national forces to identify traffic junctions, key logistical and other infrastructure in the country which will enable the quickest possible redeployment of the NATO Response Force from one region to another. When facilitated by the NFIU, certain elements of the VJFT will be deployable within as little as 2 days while others – within less than a week. |
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