Northern Coasts military exercises will be conducted under German leadership from next week. Three thousand military personnel from 14 countries will take part in exercises near the shores of Estonia and Latvia for two weeks. Military maneuvers are a warning signal for Moscow.

The maneuvers will take place near the shores of Estonia and Latvia, as well as in the air and on the ground. More than 3,000 military personnel will take part in the joint exercise, which involves the United States, Italy, France and Canada, as well as countries bordering the Baltic Sea.

During the military exercises, 30 ships, including a submarine, as well as 20 aircraft and several units on land will be involved, said the inspector of the German Navy Vice Admiral Jan Christian Kaak.

H2: NATO Key Regional Headquarters

Vice Admiral Kaak warned against underestimating Russia’s military potential, saying that the German navy is ready to take on greater responsibility in the joint defense of NATO territory in the Baltic Sea, the Bundeswehr Journal reports.

“The German naval forces are not small in this region. We are happy to take on the responsibility that comes from this,” Kaak said, referring to the proposal to establish a regional naval headquarters for the Baltic Sea in Rostock.

The Northern Coasts exercise is an important step for the German Navy towards full operational readiness as a key regional headquarters for NATO. The headquarters of the German Navy is located in Rostock, from where the actions of the German naval forces are managed.

Military exercises based on a realistic scenario

The major military exercises have been held annually since 2007 and are “multinational exercises to which NATO allies and EU countries are invited,” according to an official presentation on the German army’s Bundeswehr.de website. The organizers, in turn, are Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Finland.

According to the head of the exercise, Admiral Stephan Gaisch, the number of ships and aircraft he will control during the maneuver is almost the same as the entire German fleet.

The primary objective of the exercise is for participants to learn how to conduct combat operations at sea in a realistic common scenario conducted in a maritime coastal environment with multiple potential threats.

“These dangers are constantly evolving: missiles, for example, are reaching ever higher speeds, unmanned aerial vehicles are making their way into naval warfare above and below the water,” the statement said.

“Allies and NATO partners sometimes use maneuvers like North Shore to jointly develop tactics and procedures, and to test and deploy new technical systems.”

“In the early years of the exercise series, detailed attention was paid to piracy and terrorism, but today the focus is on national and Alliance defense, especially on NATO’s northeastern flank. In this way, Northern Coasts strengthens individual actors’ ability to respond adequately and consistently to military threats from the air, above and below the sea, and from land.”