Estonia starts biggest military exercise in history of defence forces

  • 2015-05-04
  • from wire reports and TBT staff, TALLINN

The Estonian Defence Forces will start military exercise Hedgehog today, Postimees Online reports.

The chief of Estonian Defence Forces, Lieutenant General Riho Terras, said that planning the exercise has taken several years.

"The last, the most important effort is ahead of us now, during which we will learn how prepared we really are in managing real situations," said Terras. "The Defence Forces are trusted and we have to justify this trust. It depends on each soldier, NCO and participant. Let us be worthy of the major exercise, because each spine counts!"

Hedgehog 2015, which will last from May 4 to 15 throughout Estonia and culminate in Virumaa, is the biggest exercise in the history of the Defence Forces. Hedgehog is taking the place of the annual Spring Storm exercise, and over 13,000 Estonian and allied reservists, defence league members, conscripts and active military members will participate. The success of the exercise depends largely on reservists, who make up more than half of the participants.

The purpose of the exercise is to check the supplementary compiling of units that are in permanent readiness and formation of rapid response readiness units. That means a lot of emphasis on the formation of entities, including practicing the reception of the mobilized persons. In addition, the 1st Infantry Brigade will practise battle operations, and tactical and operational level management.

Hedgehog consists of three phases: during phase I between 4th and 8th May, the formation and training of the units is practiced; in the second phase, from 9th to12th May, the 1st Infantry Brigade tactical exercise and battle exercise will take place and during phase III (13th-15th May), completion of the exercise and primary care of equipment will take place.

Estonia's allies will also participate in the exercise, including an infantry company from the UK and U.S. units who are already in Estonia. Belgium and Germany will also be represented by air defence systems; in addition to Polish pilots, who will be present at Ämari airbase. Dutch forces will also participate. Latvia and Lithuania will also represented, but this time will not have separate units.

Four British Eurofighter planes will arrive in Estonia for their air policing rotation, and when possible they will be involved in Hedgehog, along with two Air Force Hawk practice planes. In addition, Polish and U.S. planes will participate in the training exercise.