VILNIUS, August 19. /TASS/. Germany sent more than 650 units of military equipment from the Bundeswehr’s 21st Brigade to participate in Exercise Grand Eagle that aims to rehearse defending NATO's eastern flank, the Lithuanian national broadcaster LRT reported.
"From August 19 to 22, military equipment of the Bundeswehr's 21st Enhanced Vigilance Activity Brigade will be moving along Lithuania's roads, heading from the Polish border to the firing range <...> in Pabrade. These units will take part in the Grand Eagle-2/24 exercise, which will last until September 8," the Lithuanian Armed Forces said in a statement, LRT reported.
Pabrade is a town in the eastern part of the country, near the border with Belarus.
The maneuvers will seek to improve the speed and efficiency of deploying German forces to Lithuania, as well as the interoperability between the Bundeswehr and the Lithuanian military.
In mid-December 2023, then Lithuanian Defense Minister Arvydas Anusauskas and German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius approved a detailed plan for the deployment of a Bundeswehr brigade in the Baltic republic. The sides expect to sign an intergovernmental agreement in the second half of this year, which will give a start to the deployment. The full brigade (4,800 military and 200 non-military personnel) will be deployed by 2027. Its core will consist of a tank battalion and a mechanized infantry battalion.