During the exercise troops assessed the locality near the Gaižiūnai Training Area, watched roads in the said districts leading to the training area. Audio simulation and pyrotechnics were used.
The NATO eFP Battalion Battle Group has been deployed in Lithuania since the beginning of 2017. Currently the NATO eFP Battalion Battle Group in Lithuania comprises over 450 German, 100 Belgian, 250 Dutch, 200 Norwegian and 20 Luxembourg’s soldiers. Integrated into the Mechanised Infantry Brigade Iron Wolf, Lithuanian Armed Forces, in Rukla, the eFP Battle Group in Lithuania has Germany as the lead and framework nation. The decision to deploy a NATO eFP Battalion along the eastern NATO border was taken in the NATO Summit in Warsaw in July 2016 in response to the changed security situation. At present the framework nations of the four rotational multinational eFP Battle Groups, roughly 4.5 thousand troops, deployed for deterrence and defence in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland are Germany, Canada, United Kingdom and the United States of America. This presence means that an attack on one ally would be treated as an attack on all. The Alliance also stepped up (tripled) the size the NATO Response Force, spearheaded by the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force, to approx. 40 thousand. Also, eight small headquarters, NATO Force Integration Units have been in operation, including in Vilnius since 2015.
