Other events in Baltic States

U.S. units about to take part in the Saber Strike training exercise in the Baltic countries in June began on Friday a vehicle road march in the course of which motorized convoys will complete a distance of more than 2,400 kilometers, informs LETA/BNS.

On Friday U.S. units will start the motorized march, Dragoon Ride II, from Vilseck, Germany to Estonia and the other Baltic countries to take part in the Saber Strike exercise here in June, military spokespeople in Tallinn said.

In the vehicle road march using Stryker combat vehicles and support vehicles from Rose Barracks, Germany, to Tapa, Estonia, May 27 through June 15, 2016, the convoy will demonstrate the ability to rapidly move a regiment-sized deployment consisting altogether of some 400 vehicles along two routes and through six countries.

Throughout the 17-day movement, the U.S. 2nd Cavalry Regiment is scheduled to stop in each country along the route to conduct multinational training exercises with allied forces, including tactical river crossings with German forces near Weiden an der Oberpfalz, Germany, and Polish forces near Torun, Poland. Joint field exercises will occur in Czech Republic, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.  

In Estonia, the convoys will stop in Valga and Tartu on June 9, in Sillamae on June 11 and in Parnu on June 14.

Saber Strike 16 in conjunction with Dragoon Ride II provides the opportunity to combine assets and units from 13 nations, a total of 10,000 soldiers. As part of the exercise about 1,500 U.S. personnel are to arrive in Estonia.

Saber Strike is a long-standing U.S Army Europe-led cooperative training exercise. This year's exercise objectives will focus on promoting interoperability with regional partners and improving joint operational capability in a variety of missions to prepare the participating nations and units for future operations. Participating nations include Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, as well as the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Slovenia, United Kingdom, and the United States. The exercise will be held in multiple locations throughout Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Estonia is the lead nation of the exercise this year. The exercise will consist of several components, the first of which, Saber Knight, focusing mainly on staff procedures, will start at Tapa on May 30. The tactical parts of the exercise will be conducted at Tapa, at the Estonian defense forces' central training range, at Amari in northwestern Estonia, and at the training grounds of the defense forces in Lithuania and Latvia. The concluding ceremony of the exercise will take place in Tapa on June 21.