More than 10,000 active reserve troops will be called up for service as the Lithuanian Armed Forces gear up for the Thunder Storm 2024 exercise.
The exercise, which will take place in April-May, will be the largest since the restoration of independence, the Lithuanian Armed Forces said on Tuesday.
The Thunder Storm 2024 exercise aims to train the ability of the Lithuanian Armed Forces to prepare for defence in the context of multi-domain operations, testing the operational plans of the state’s armed defence in cooperation with allies.
More than 10,000 members of the active reserve will be called up for service, and more than 2,500 of them are expected to actually arrive in military units to update their skills.
The exercise will bring together members of different services and tactical command posts, such as divisional and brigade command elements. It will also take place in the context of NATO exercises with allied forces from Poland, Germany, and the United States.
The allied forces will arrive in Lithuania in several phases, all of which will be carried out in the context of Steadfast Defender 2024, NATO’s largest exercise since the end of the Cold War. Besides Lithuania’s command posts, the country will host between several hundred and nearly 5,000 allied troops at various times, in addition to those already in the country.
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