Lithuania makes the second largest contribution to this EU BG after the UK, its leading nation, which is a company of the Grand Duchess Birutė Uhlan Battalion and a National Support Element.
All the military personnel assigned to the EU BG will be on standby in their home bases throughout the duty period maintaining very high readiness to deploy into an area of operation in case such a decision is made within a set period of time.
The EU Battle Groups are a multinational force formed following the example of the NATO Response Force to provide a speedy response to developing crises. It is formed by military units assigned for six-month standby periods by EU member states. Lithuanian soldiers conducted four standbys for a EU BG so far in 2010, 2011, 2013 (led by the United Kingdom as well), and 2015.
On April 29-May 24 roughly 140 soldiers of the Grand Duchess Birutė Uhlan Battalion, Mechanised Infantry Brigade Iron Wolf, were training in the United Kingdom for nearly a month in a certification exercise for military units assigned to the EU BG of the second semester of 2016.
