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NATO's Enhanced Forward Presence is an allied, forward deployed defense and deterrence posture in Eastern Europe to protect and reassure NATO's Eastern member states of their security. Following Russia's annexation of Crimea and invasion of Ukraine, NATO member states agreed at the 2016 Warsaw summit to forward deploy four multinational battalion battle groups to NATO members most at risk of a possible Russian attack.
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Overview
The four multinational battalion battle groups will be based in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, and led by the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany and the United States:
The troops serving in the multinational battalion battle groups will rotate every six months and train and operate with their host nations' militaries.
Estonia multinational battalion battle group
The United Kingdom will deploy 800 personnel from the British Army's 5th Battalion, The Rifles with Warrior infantry fighting vehicles and the Queen's Royal Hussars with Challenger 2 main battle tanks, both part of the 20th Armoured Infantry Brigade. Artillery, an armoured engineer squadron, logistics specialists and reconnaissance assets will be attached to the British contingent. The British unit will be supported by a mixed battle group from the French Army's 9th Light Armoured Marine Brigade consisting of an mechanized infantry company from the 2nd Marine Infantry Regiment equipped with VBCI infantry fighting vehicles, artillery from the 11th Marine Artillery Regiment equipped with CAESAR self-propelled howitzers, and combat engineers from the 6th Engineer Regiment, with a company of Leclerc main battle tanks from the 7th Armoured Brigade's 1st Chasseurs Regiment attached for the deployment. Additionally the Danish Army will deploy a mechanized force by 2018 at the latest.
Latvia multinational battalion battle group
Canada provides the core of the NATO battle group in Latvia with around 500 mechanized infantry troops from the Canadian Army's 1st Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry Regiment and attached combat engineer element. Spain will dispatch a reinforced armored infantry company consisting of around 350 troops from the 11th Mechanized Infantry Brigade "Extremadura". The Spanish contingent will include six Leopard 2E main battle tanks from the I/16th Tank Battalion "Mérida" of the 16th Armored Regiment "Castilla" and 15 Pizarro infantry fighting vehicles from the I/6th Mechanized Infantry Battalion "Cantabria" of the 6th Infantry Regiment "Saboya". Italy will provide an Italian Army mechanized Bersaglieri company with Dardo infantry fighting vehicles and Poland an armored company with Leopard 2A5 main battle tanks. Slovenia will deploy a Nuclear, Biological, Chemical Defense Company of the Slovenian Armed Forces, while Albania will send a small detachment from the Albanian Land Force.
Lithuania multinational battalion battle group
The Lithuania multinational battalion battle group will be assigned to the Mechanised Infantry Brigade Iron Wolf of the Lithuanian Army and based in Rukla. The first German Army unit to deploy to Lithuania is the 122nd Mechanized Battalion of the 12th Armoured Brigade of the 10th Panzer Division. Equipped with Marder infantry fighting vehicles the battalion will be augmented with Leopard 2A6 main battle tanks from the 104th Tank Battalion, PzH 2000 self-propelled artillery from the 131st Artillery Battalion, combat engineers from the 4th Armored Engineer Battalion and troops from the 4th Supply Battalion. Additionally the Royal Netherlands Army deploys a mechanized infantry company with CV9035NL infantry fighting vehicles from the 43rd Mechanized Brigade's 44th Armoured Infantry Battalion Johan Willem Friso and the Norwegian Army a mixed armoured company from the Telemark Battalion equipped with CV9030 infantry fighting vehicles and Leopard 2A4NO main battle tanks. The Belgian Army deploys a logistic support company, which arrived in Lithuania on 24 January 2017. The 100 men from the 18th Logistics Battalion and 29th Logistics Battalion of the Belgian Land Component with medical and military police units attached arrived by ferry in Klaipėda and contain a small detachments of troops from the Luxembourg Army. Croatia has pledged to deploy troops from the Croatian Army to Lithuania by 2018 at the latest.
Poland multinational battalion battle group
This Battle Group will be lead by the U.S. Army's 2nd Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment stationed in Vilseck, Germany. The Battle Group will consist of 800 soldiers equipped with Stryker Dragoon vehicles, 150 soldiers from the British Army's Light Dragoons Reconnaissance Regiment and 50 soldiers from the Romanian Army. The battalion battle group will be part of the Polish Army's 15th Mechanized Brigade and based in Orzysz located near the Suwalki Gap which transcends the land area between Northeastern Poland, Belarus, Lithuania and Kaliningrad, Russia.