NATO Force Integration Unit in Vilnius to be revealed

The progress made in the establishment of a NATO headquarters, the NATO Force Integration Unit (NFIU) in Vilnius, will be presented to national defense leadership, foreign defense attaches and media in Lithuania, at the headquarters of the Joint Staff of the Lithuanian Armed Forces in the country's capital. 

According to the Ministry of National Defense, guests will be shown where the multinational headquarters is to be based. The NFIU is expected to be officially inaugurated in Autumn 2015.

The NFIU will be one of NATO’s prepositioned headquarters in Lithuania, and will ease the deployment of the NATO Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF), and additional rapid response elements in the country. 

The NFIU will operate as an intermediatary unit helping interoperability among national and NATO forces; assisting with defense planning, allied training and exercises, and liaising with NATO’s operational headquarters.

The multinational headquarters in Vilnius will comprise of roughly 40 military personnel, half of who will be Lithuanian officers and NCOs, and the other half, military personnel assigned by NATO allies. 

Throughout the first 3-year long rotation of allied troops in Lithuania, command for the NFIU will be provided by a Danish army officer and a Lithuanian officer as his deput