The Baltic Naval Squadron - BALTRON

COMBALTRON Commander Andrei Leit (EST)

Baltic Naval Squadron On-Shore Facility
Tallinn Miinisadam
Box 1549
54 Tööstuse Street
10402 Tallinn, Estonia
Tel.: +372 717 7150
Fax: +372 717 7158

BALTRON was created as Baltic Naval Squadron to minimise mine hazards, enhance security of the Baltic States territorial waters and help to remediate environmental damage in the territorial waters and economic zones of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

International co-operation in the framework of BALTRON and the participation in NATO-led exercises have helped to speed up the development of the Baltic navies, thereby enhancing the defence capabilities of each state.

BALTRON improves mutual understanding and helps to ensure Baltic States Navies participation in NATO Naval Mine Countermeasures (NMCM) forces activities by providing collective training for ships assigned.

Structure and organisation of BALTRON

BALTRON comprises the Joint Staff of the Baltic States and ships of the navies of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Every state allocates 1-2 mine countermeasure vessels to BALTRON. One additional ship performs the tasks of a command and support platform.

The authorities of the Baltic States annually agree on the allocation of ships, appointment of staff members and specific activities - the annual plan of BALTRON's activities is prepared accordingly.

The ships assigned to BALTRON remain a part of the Baltic navies and therefore the joint squadron is based on the support of the three navies. Estonia has allocated facilities at the Tallinn Miinisadam Harbour for BALTRON on-shore facilities for the staff.

BALTRON staff is formed of representatives of the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian navies. The staff positions are rotated between the naval officers of the three states. This helps to ensure an equal participation of the navies involved in the project, the participants also gain an equal share of experience to be able to act in accordance with the internationally established terms of co-operation.

Development of BALTRON

BALTRON was inaugurated in spring 1998 and the Latvian Navy Captain Ilmars Leshinskis was appointed as the first Commander of the squadron.
Apart from the main priorities, BALTRON also includes the development of the national navies of the Baltic States and the enhancement of their defence capabilities, leading to an increased capability of the single unit to join NATO NMCM forces.

A precondition for the planning and conducting of BALTRON activities is adherence to the relevant NATO procedures and standards. The command and communication language of the squadron is English.

Operations and exercises of BALTRON

According to the objectives of BALTRON foundation, its main activities are connected to NMCM operations in the territorial waters of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The participating countries therefore conduct special NMCM operations in the waters of the Baltic States in order to make the sea safer. In course of such operations actual mines, grenades and torpedoes mostly from last two world wars are detected, gathered and destroyed. BALTRON also has to be capable of conducting following activities:
- hunting moored and bottom mines using hull-mounted sonar and ROV;
- sweeping moored mines;
- conduct surface and anti-aircraft gunnery;
- train general seamanship and manoeuvring;
- search and rescue (SAR);
- train ships security at sea and in harbours;
- conduct diving operations;
- compilation of maritime picture within squadron and in conjunction with coastal surveillance station of Baltic states.

Annual exercises and operations in territorial waters of the Baltic States:
- MCOP – NMCM operations;
- Open Spirit – NMCM operation-exercise;
- Amber Sea – Baltic naval exercise.