Twenty NATO warships have sailed from the Polish port of Gdynia to kick off BALTOPS 2026, the fifty-fifth running of the alliance’s annual maritime exercise in the Baltic Sea, drawing in around 6,000 personnel from fifteen nations and openly framed by allied commanders as a deterrent message to Russia, the US Sixth Fleet has said.
The exercise is being led by the US Sixth Fleet, headquartered in Naples, but for the first time since 1972 the day-to-day command and control of the drill is being run from Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum, one of NATO’s three operational-level headquarters, in what the alliance has presented as a way of giving participants more realistic training under a NATO command structure rather than a national one.
The deputy commander at JFC Brunssum, Lieutenant General John Mead, set out three jobs for the exercise, saying first among them was to “deter Russian threats in the Baltic Sea region”, alongside building real readiness and interoperability among the ships, aircraft and units involved and tightening the alliance’s own internal cohesion, and he argued that deterrence was something that had to be demonstrated rather than merely talked about.
The vice commander of the US Sixth Fleet, Rear Admiral Jason Naidyhorski, framed the exercise as preventative rather than reactive, saying that through BALTOPS the allies were “actively working to prevent” a crisis by showing unified strength, and pointing to the drill as another example of the European allies stepping up to shoulder the lion’s share of Europe’s conventional deterrence and defence.
The Inspector of the Polish Navy, Rear Admiral Jarosław Ziemiański, told a pre-sail conference at Gdynia on Tuesday that hosting the fleet was an honour, calling the exercise “an expression of our solidarity, determination and readiness” to meet alliance commitments, with the assembled forces drawing on the navies and supporting elements of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States, together with NATO’s Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 1 and Commander Task Force Baltic.
Hi folks hope all is well.
Just been reading about all of the UKs attack submarines alongside at the same time. I do despair at this level of incompetence not just the current government, but also the previous government. Both are to blame for the state of our armed forces. No blame on the actual personnel, they will always step up and do a fantastic job with what is available, and a magnificently perform amy deployment.
The quicker this lot goes, the better. Even the public can see the situation must change with defence at the top of the agenda apparently by recent polling.
Cheers, George