Estonia's infantry brigade to be tied to Danish division
04.04.2008
TALLINN, Apr 04, BNS - The 1st Infantry Brigade of the Estonian defense forces will be tied in terms of training to the Danish division, which is one of the four divisions of NATO's Northeastern Corps.
The government's security commission on Monday gave orders to the Ministry of Defense to start tying the infantry brigade to the Danish division, spokespeople for the Defense Ministry said.
That the brigade will be tied to the Danish division does not mean that it will be transfered under the Danish chain of command. The tying occurs rather in terms of training, and as a result the headquarters and the units will be fully capable of cooperation and of conducting joint operations.
A framework agreement with Denmark concerning training is about to be signed later this year. The parties will also continue cooperation and sending of their senior officers to serve at the headquarters of the Northeastern Corps in Poland.
The Danish division is the largest unit of the ground forces of Denmark.
Estonia's Defense Minister Jaak Aaviksoo informed his Danish counterpart Soren Gade about the tying of the Estonian brigade to the Danish division at the NATO summit in Bucharest.
Aaviksoo described it as important in terms of defense policy that Estonia's participation in the Northeastern Corps and linking of the infantry brigade with the Danish division will deepen cooperation with Germany and Poland, the countries playing the central role in Northeastern Corps.
"Participating in national corps, a small country will never attain as high positions for its officers as it can in Northeastern Corps. Thus participation in Northeastern Corps strengthens both NATO collective defense as well as Estonia's national military capabilities," Aaviksoo said.
A Danish advisory team is working in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to tie the brigades of the Baltic states. The Iron Wolf brigade of Lithuania has already been tied to the Danish division.
The headquarters of the Danish division will in 2010 serve as headquarters for the NATO Response Force, NRF-14. The joint Baltic battalion BALTBAT also will be part of NRF-14.
The 1st Infantry Brigade of Estonia is made up of most of the units prepared in the course of conscript training and it also includes the Scouts Battalion consisting of professional servicemen.
Tallinn newsroom, +372 610 8814, sise@bns.ee
 
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