The Czech contingent of the NATO enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) Battlegroup, roughly 180 troops and their 15 Pandur-II Infantry Fighting Vehicles, made the journey north from Rukla, Lithuania to Latvia to take part in Exercise Namejs 2018.

Namejs 2018 is the largest military exercise ever organized by the Latvian Armed Forces and features approximately 10,000 participants from 13 NATO Allies. The exercise is scheduled from Aug. 20 to Sept. 2.

The training includes war games where friendly and opposition forces manoeuvre through multiple locations in Latvia. 

"That definitely will be one of our major challenges," says Lieutenant Colonel Jiří Líbal, commander of the Czech unit in Lithuania. "Road movements with the Pandurs every day to a different location will be a logistics challenge, but I am sure that it will go well and it will prepare us well for future exercises and operations."

According to Líbal, the participation in Namejs 2018 is an excellent opportunity to demonstrate the capabilities of the Czech unit. "It is also a great way to display unity and cooperation between the eFP Battlegroups in collectively safeguarding the security of NATO nations."

The NATO eFP Battlegroup in Lithuania was established in 2017 and is led by framework nation Germany, which consists of 1200 troops from eight NATO member states. The eFP Battlegroup in Latvia is led by framework nation Canada and has a similar number of troops, also from eight NATO member states.