Today, more than 130 pieces of military equipment belonging to the United Kingdom arrived at Paldiski – part of the armaments belonging to the NATO combat group arriving in Estonia – including Challenger 2 tanks and AS90 self-propelled guns.
More than 200 soldiers from the United Kingdom and 50 from France are already present in Estonia, with the combat group’s remaining servicemen and their equipment set to arrive in Estonia in the coming weeks.
The combat group is comprised of nearly 1200 allied soldiers. The United Kingdom has announced that its contribution to the combat group will be an armoured unit of more than 800 servicemen, which will be armed with Challenger 2 tanks, Warrior infantry fighting vehicles, as well as AS90 self-propelled guns, and armoured vehicles. France has announced that it will be contributing a unit of 300 servicemen to the combat group, which will be equipped with Leclerc tanks, VBCI infantry fighting vehicles, and VAB armoured vehicles.
The equipment that has arrived will be transported from Paldiski to the 1st Infantry Brigade’s armed forces campus in Tapa. Each convoy consists of up to 20 vehicles, with the convoy travelling at a speed not in excess of 70km/h. The convoys will be moving primarily along the route Paldiski-Keila-Tallinn Ring Road-Peterburi Highway and the Tapa-Loobu Highway.
Last June, at the Warsaw Summit, the leaders of NATO’s 28 member countries decided, as a result of the changed security situation, to deploy NATO battalion combat groups to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. The United Kingdom is the lead country for the NATO combat group to be stationed in Estonia, with France and Denmark being contributing countries.
We are connected to the Brits, the Danes, and the French by long-term defence related ties and a brotherhood in arms arising from joint participation in international military operations.
Photographs: http://pildid.mil.ee/index.php?/category/58013