A battlegroup is a combined arms team.
A collection of component parts
that together is able to respond to a series of threats.
Instead of just having one type of element,
for example infantry units or artillery units,
a battlegroup is a mixture of those various combat arms.
What we provide here is a really potent force
that is able to not only deter but then defeat an aggressor.
In 2014, Russia violated Ukrainian sovereign territory
by aggressively and illegally annexing the Crimean peninsula.
Allies responded
by strengthening their defences
and then at the NATO Summit in Warsaw in 2016,
they announced the deployment
of four battalions to the eastern part of the Alliance.
These battalions will be robust and they will be multinational
and they make clear that an attack on one Ally
would be considered an attack on the whole Alliance.
Those battalions, known as NATO’s multinational battlegroups,
were deployed in each of the Baltic states,
Estonia,
Latvia
and Lithuania
and also in Poland.
Estonia sits as the most
northern Baltic country
in a very sort of strategic region
and then if you look at Tallinn, opposite Helsinki,
it’s the gateway to the gulf of Finland
and therefore into Saint Petersburg.
So, just where Estonia sits in itself is of importance,
and that’s why there is that onus
on making sure that we’ve got the right defensive capabilities,
not just in Estonia but within the Baltics.
By 2017, all four multinational battlegroups were in place,
installed primarily as a deterrence measure,
but also combat-ready and deployable at short notice, if required.
Our first real priority is always readiness
so when we get here we put the team together
and we make sure that all elements of the battlegroup
are ready to go out the door, if required.
Obviously our principle mission is deterrence
and we do that by our presence here, consistent training,
but we always have to be ready to accomplish
that defend part of the mission,
which is really our readiness and ability to project our forces as required.
Each battlegroup has a lead nation.
In Estonia that’s the United Kingdom.
In Latvia, Canada,
in Lithuania, Germany
and in Poland, the United States,
which are then supplemented by a number of contributing nations,
each of which provide their own set of skills and capabilities.
Within our command post, all nine nations are represented,
all nine nations are represented within each of the subunits,
each country providing different capacities to the battlegroup.
And each of the contributing nations brings forward
a component that adds to the defensive posture of that battlegroup
so we really are sort of the sum of all the parts
and that’s what we draw our strength from
and all the strengths and capabilities that those nations offer.
It’s one of the most rewarding missions you can have
as an army, an armed force.
I believe it’s an amazing concept
when you bring all the countries together
under one unified command structure
and everyone has a singular purpose.
Being NATO Allies,
we have a lot of common tactics, techniques, procedures
and whatever is not common,
we’re able to sort out relatively quickly once we get on the ground.
And while the battlegroups are primarily land-focused,
they work with other regional NATO assets
to ensure the Alliance is also protected
at sea
and in the skies.
We work very closely with NATO’s maritime assets in the Baltic region
and likewise with the air assets that support us here,
whether that be through the Baltic Air Policing
or air capabilities coming in from the broader Alliance into the region.
On February 24th 2022, the security landscape in Europe was shattered
as Russian forces conducted an unprovoked, brutal invasion of Ukraine.
For the battlegroups, that meant a status of high alert.
So the events starting on February 24th
have obviously brought additional focus to our mission.
We see that the threat is real
and we see the conflict in Ukraine playing out as it is now,
so our soldiers come with a renewed focus
to maintain readiness and definitely be ready at all times.
We’re constantly varying the geometry of the battlegroup
to make sure that we’ve got those capabilities
that are relevant and current
and able to defend, not just Estonia but the wider region.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
also prompted NATO to deploy four more battlegroups
in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia.
So we have eight multinational NATO battlegroups,
from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea.
You’re expanding upon that current footprint
so now instead of having it just in the north-east of the NATO region,
now you’re spreading it all the way down to the south-east
and you’re creating that barrier, if you will,
against any aggression all the way through the region.
Having these multinational battlegroups in place,
ready to go right now,
sends a message that we’re here, we’re ready,
and that we can respond to any aggression as it would happen.
The fact that we’re able to work so effortlessly and seamlessly together
and able to integrate
is a clear demonstration of the cohesive nature of the Alliance
and the unity that we have,
and that underscores our collective defence,
of us being able to work together,
and it underpins Article 5
in that you have a unified and collective response
to a threat against a single member.