NATO’s four
multinational
battalion battle
groups are based
in the Baltic states
and Poland, and
are made up of
about 5,000
troops from 19
countries
Spanish Leopard battle tanks during the Steel Crescendo live-fire exercise at Adazi training grounds. Below, other men of the
multinational contingent cover the riflemen who are ready to take position.
face the final stretch of their stay in
Latvia as part of NATO’s Enhanced
Forward Presence (eFP) mission, a
deployment of a defensive nature that
aims at maintaining deterrence against
any aggression against the Baltic allies
and Poland.
The eFP mission, which grew out
of the Warsaw Summit in 2016, was
established in the spring of 2017 on
the basis of four rotating battalion-size
battle groups operating together with
the forces of the host nations (Estonia,
Latvia, Lithuania and Poland). Canada,
Germany, the United Kingdom and the
United States are the framework nations
of the four battle groups which, in total,
comprise about 5,000 troops from
19 countries. They are under NATO
command, through the Multinational
Corps Northeast Headquarters in
Szczecin, Poland; while Elblag, the
Multinational Division Northeast
Headquarters (MND-NE), also in
Poland, coordinates the training and
preparation activities.
The Spanish contingent is part of
the battalion led by Canada, the most
multinational of the four, with troops
from Poland, Italy, Slovakia, Czech
Republic, Slovenia, Albania and
Montenegro. Altogether, 1,500 troops,
including those of the service support
units. Spain’s contribution, the second
largest of the battalion, consists of a
mechanized subgroup, a sapper unit,
various posts within the main staff, and
a national support element, including
the logistic support unit that provides
maintenance and supply to the force.
The current rotation -the sixth since
the beginning of the mission, three
August 2020 Revista Española de Defensa 35