The latest three week-long NATO Baltic Operation (BALTOPS) exercise wrapped on June 20 in Germany, with participation from 20 allied member states.
The event started with a June 4 pre-sail conference then the underway portion began on June 8. The exercise included over 50 ships, 85 aircraft and 9,000 personnel.
The U.S. Navy underscored this 53rd edition of BALTOPS was the largest version ever and exclusively included NATO allies with the recent addition of Finland and Sweden to the alliance.
“Since we joined three months ago, it’s important for Sweden to show that we, as a nation, contribute to the security and stability in the Baltic Sea region as it is our home turf as well. It also lets us show that we are a willing contributor as a newly joined ally,” Lt. Tobias Irebro, liaison officer with the Swedish Navy, said in a statement.
“BALTOPS-24 is not only the largest iteration in its 53-year history, but the first in nearly 30 years that all participants are NATO Allies. NATO Nations account for nearly all 8,000 km of Baltic coastline. That’s eight of nine Baltic Sea Nations who share values for Freedom of Navigation and the legitimate use of the Baltic Sea,” Vice Adm. Thomas Ishee, Commander of Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO (STRIKFORNATO) and U.S. 6th Fleet, added.
The June 8 underway portion started with 30 NATO warships sailing together in one of the largest sea formations ever in the region. Another event included the largest assembled coalition of amphibious forces in the Baltic Sea, composed of four Amphibious Task Groups and multinational task units practicing amphibious capabilities in Latvia, Poland and Germany.
Amphibious operations were focused around the U.S. Navy’s USS Wasp (LHD-1) amphibious assault ship and San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship USS New York (LPD-21) alongside the Spanish Navy’s aircraft carrier Juan Carlos I (L 61), and the French Navy amphibious assault ship FS Mistral (L 9013).
The Navy said land forces had NATO participants conduct urban warfare training; tactical recovery of personnel; aerial insertions; beach landings; forest navigation; deployment of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System; free-jumping into simulated contested territory and full-scale amphibious assaults on an opposing force.
At-sea warship operations included tactical maneuvering drills, anti-submarine warfare training, gunnery and small caliber live fire events, and air defense exercises.
The service also noted BALTOPS 2024 “hosted the largest assembled coalition of mine countermeasure (MCM) forces in NATO,” with more than 700 personnel, 20 surface ships, 20 unmanned systems and two MH-60S Seahawk helicopters. The MCM portion included U.S., Swedish, French. Norwegian and Dutch forces scanning the seabed, practice locating mines with surface assets, deploy the U.S. Airborne Mine Neutralization System for aerial mine recovery, and finalized multinational MCM collaboration with an MCM combat rehearsal.
Capt. Scott Hattaway, director of Naval Surface and Mine Warfighting Development Center (SMWDC) and lead for all MCM activity during the exercise, said this allows allies to “sharpen the sword of our MCM capabilities” as well as bring together partners that may remove mine threats.
“No one country goes into an MCM operation by themselves. We practice now as an international cohort in order to prepare for when we do it for real,” Hattaway said.
All exercise events were planned and coordinated out of STRIKFORNATO headquarters in Oeiras, Portugal.