RUKLA, Lithuania - Brigade-level field training exercise IRON WOLF is currently underway in Lithuania with 3,500 troops from 14 NATO and partner nations.

The Lithuanian Iron Wolf brigade leads the exercise on the main training area of the Lithuanian Armed Forces in Pabrade, some 140 km northeast of Vilnius. Besides Lithuanian, eFP Battlegroup troops from Germany, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Belgium, Luxembourg and Norway take part, along with troops from the United Kingdom, Estonia, Italy, USA, Canada, Slovenia and Ukraine. 

The exercise is designed to evaluate the readiness to plan and conduct military operations of the Battlegroup together with one of the Brigade's Lithuanian battalions.

The current rotation of the eFP Battlegroup in Lithuania has previously finished several internal training cycles and last month conducted the Battalion-level field training exercise BEOWULF. Preconditions have therefore been created to participate in the Brigade-level IRON WOLF exercise.

In this exercise, planning and implementation of defensive operations and interoperability with allies and partners will be trained. During the first week, the units will conduct the integration of assigned formations. In the second week, the 'force-on-force' operations will take place, where units train to fight against each other.

"We conduct Exercise IRON WOLF to train and evaluate the ability of our units to quickly redeploy forces to any place in Lithuania and to carry out multinational defensive operations. This is the biggest exercise this semester together with our allies. We will train mobility, the ability to quickly reach any area to defend it against any enemy in the territory in Lithuania," said Colonel Mindaugas Steponavičius, Commander of the Lithuanian Mechanized Infantry Iron Wolf Brigade.

The exercise concludes on Monday, Nov. 19, 2018 with a Distinguished Visitors Day featuring a live firing demonstration.