One of the biggest military exercises is about to begin in Lithuania, involving over 20,000 Lithuanian and allied troops and scores of military equipment.
In the coming months, some 2,500 active reserve troops will be called up to take part in the exercise, and several thousand more will be invited for a short information verification procedure. During the exercise, a temporary curfew will be imposed in certain areas of Vilnius and Kaunas.
More than 20,000 people, Lithuanian and allied troops, will train in the country until the summer. According General Valdemaras Rupšys, Lithuania’s chief of defence, the movement of military equipment will intensify considerably, as several thousand German troops will be arriving with their weapons.
The population is warned to behave responsibly. According to the commander, measures are also being taken against spying and possible provocations on the Lithuanian border.
“Those risks, presumably, we can manage. If they are unmanageable, we will react accordingly. The protection measures, the unit protection measures, the rapid reaction force remain on standby as planned despite all those exercises,” says Rupšys.
Parts of the exercise may impact civilian population: a temporary curfew will be imposed in certain parts of Vilnius and Kaunas, and some industrial parts of the cities will be temporarily turned into military territory.
Approximately 10,000 reserve troops will be called up. Of these, 2,500 will take part in the exercise, 2,000 will have to update and verify their information, and the rest will await further instructions.
For the first time, commandant’s offices will be tested.
“During Thunder Storm 2024, we will be inviting active reserve soldiers to train procedures, algorithms and, equally, the transformation of draft into call-up centres, through which the public, the active reserve soldiers will enter the Lithuanian Armed Forces and be integrated into the structure,” says Col. Žilvinas Gaubys, deputy chief of defence staff for operations.
“In other words, the Lithuanian Armed Forces will make a transition a peacetime to a wartime structure, with active reserve conscription,” he adds.
In May, Lithuanian artillery soldiers will conduct a HIMARS firing drill in a rapid response exercise with Americans troops.
The NATO Air Police will also participate in the exercise with their own tasks.
The Dutch troops are going to bring the PATRIOT air defence system to the exercise for a few weeks.
According to Defence Minister Laurynas Kasčiūnas, Western allies do not have enough air defence systems, which are needed for both Ukraine and the rotational model.
“The problem in both directions is one and the same – the deficit of air defence systems in the West. Whether it is a deficit in medium-range systems or, if we look further, in long-range systems. We are leaning on the defence industry, which needs to be fired up in order to give us more of those systems.”
He added that the government was in talks with a few allies about rotating air defence systems to Lithuania.
NATO’s largest exercise since 1988 is aimed at testing how Article 5 would work. Russia has repeatedly called the exercise a provocation.
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