A Bundeswehr advance party has set off for Lithuania. It is intended to prepare the permanent stationing of around 5,000 German emergency services in the Baltic state. However, their equipment leaves gaps in the units in this country.
An advance detachment of around 20 Bundeswehr soldiers was sent off to Lithuania by Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) at Berlin-Brandenburg Airport today. The armed forces should prepare to station an army brigade in Lithuania and strengthen NATO’s eastern flank.
“It is new territory that you are entering,” Pistorius told the soldiers. There is still a lot to be done, including on site, said Pistorius, for example with accommodation for the soldiers. He promised: “We will do everything we can to equip the brigade the way it needs to be equipped right from the start.”
Creating the conditions for stationing a Bundeswehr brigade in Lithuania will cost the German NATO partner around 800 million euros over the next few years. Defense Minister Laurynas Kasciunas mentioned this sum on Lithuanian radio.
Launch of the brigade is an “outstanding event”
The brigade is accompanied by the Army Inspector, Lieutenant General Alfons Mais. This spoke in the daily News from a “very important signal that Germany is living up to its responsibility.” It’s about fulfilling alliance obligations, protecting NATO partners on the eastern flank and defending peace and freedom. Mais called the start an “outstanding event” for the brigade.
However, the brigade’s equipment will leave gaps in the units in Germany in the next three to five years, Mais said in another interview: “The dent we are going through has become a little deeper.” But these gaps in the timeline will also be filled in again.
This was confirmed by the Bundestag’s military commissioner, SPD politician Eva Högl ARD morning magazine: “Of course, this will create huge holes at first, because the equipment of our soldiers and the large equipment are not yet available, which means that everything will now go to Lithuania.”
Never so many Bundeswehr soldiers permanently abroad
In response to the changed security situation in Europe, the federal government agreed to relocate a combat unit to Lithuania that was ready for combat and capable of acting independently. The target size for the brigade, which should be operational from 2027, is 4,800 armed forces as well as around 200 civilian Bundeswehr members and other employees.
The permanent stationing of a brigade in Lithuania is a precedent in the history of the Bundeswehr. Never before had so many emergency services been permanently stationed abroad.
With information from Tim Aßmann, ARD capital studio