Admiral James G. Foggo salutes in the main lobby of Allied Joint Force Command Naples during a Honors Cordon for Baltic CHoD conference on 9th September 2019. Photo taken by Maitre Sebastien Laurent PAO.
Throughout history the Baltic Sea has been
home to great naval fleets. Naval strength is vital to achieving maritime
security, which is an essential component for regional stability and a thriving
economy. Indeed, the Baltic Sea remains a critical artery of commerce, with up to
15 percent of the world’s cargo traffic transiting the region.
The dynamic security environment in the
Baltic Sea demands cooperation to ensure freedom of movement, and consequently
economic prosperity. This requires commitment from regional partners and allies
because, as Lithuanian Defense
Minister Raimundas Karoblis observed, “For
many reasons—geographic, historic, social—the Baltic region is bound to remain
the most vulnerable part of the alliance.”
The US Navy is deeply committed to the Baltic
region, and continues to work alongside allies and partners to deter potential
adversaries and provide collective defense. For this reason, I invited the top
military leaders from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to my headquarters in
Naples, Italy. During the two days with the Baltic chiefs of defense, we will
discuss regional challenges and opportunities. As a NATO and US military
commander, I deeply value the contributions of the countries’ navies,
particularly the geographic expertise every one of our Allies brings. Together,
we create a maritime force greater than the sum of the individual navies. This
holds particularly true in the Baltic Sea.
Every Baltic country has something powerful
to contribute, and when they do, our unified strength is simply unmatched. We
recently demonstrated this during BALTOPS 2019—the 47th iteration of
the region’s largest maritime exercise. BALTOPS is a terrific opportunity for Allies
and partners to improve interoperability and warfighting skills while learning
from each other. In this year’s highly successful exercise, we brought together
fifty ships, thirty-six aircraft, two submarines, and 8,600 service members
from eighteen Allies and partner nations.
I’m proud of what we accomplished together in
BALTOPS. We demonstrated our combined and enduring willingness to work towards
common goals of regional security and stability. Yet we must continue to
challenge our naval forces to further develop our mutual capabilities and
interoperability in the unique and challenging Baltic environment. As I will
discuss with the chiefs of defense, maintaining Baltic maritime security will
not be easy, but I know the nations of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are up
for the challenge.
Estonia’s continued participation in BALTOPS,
its recent modernization of its Sandown-class minehunters, as well as its
commitment to transfer their expertise to our partners through cross training
is mutually beneficial to our combined maritime forces. Latvia, which recently
celebrated its navy’s centennial, had its mine countermeasures (MCM) ship,
Virsaitis, participate in BALTOPS, serving as the command and control vessel
for a multinational MCM task unit. Latvia also hosted an important amphibious
landing, where the Spanish navy’s ESPS Juan Carlos I landed forces on its
shores. Lithuania debuted a range where a Hellfire missile was test launched—a
first at BALTOPS. Lithuania also provided an MCM ship and a patrol craft as
part of the Baltic Naval Squadron or BALTRON.
We must commit and invest in a robust and
capable naval presence to maintain regional stability. Not doing so could be
far more costly. Equitable and proportional contributions to maintain a unified
naval presence strengthens trust. Nowhere is this need more relevant than in
the Baltic Sea. The region has long witnessed innovative warfighting—the first
modern-era mines were laid in the Baltic Sea in the mid-nineteenth century.
This pioneering defense impacted the balance of power between opposing fleets,
and was again implemented during World War I, along with the rise of submarine
warfare. World War II again witnessed new mining techniques and brought air
power into the Baltic Sea, continuing the trend of the region employing
innovative technologies in new warfighting domains. The Baltic nations are well
suited to develop skills to confront potential maritime security issues, which
threaten regional stability and by extension the economic prosperity that can
affect the global economy, including our own.
Beyond maintaining the sea lanes open for all,
a strong naval presence is the only concrete way to deter aggression and monitor
unknown intentions, including Russia’s robust Anti-Access Area Denial (A2AD)
network, and the deployment of Iskander ballistic missile batteries to the
Kaliningrad enclave. Over the past decade, Russia has displayed a general disregard
for sovereign neighbors’ territory and maritime international laws. They
invaded Georgia, illegally annexed Crimea, and all but claimed the Sea of Azov
as their own—stopping and detaining cargo ships and mariners at will. For these
reasons, a capable naval presence in the Baltic Sea is critical.
We applaud the wonderful citizens of the
Baltic nations for their desire to live free and their efforts to create a safe
and secure environment. They have fought for their freedom and for the right to
chart their own destiny. As a military commander who has had the opportunity to
visit the Baltic region on numerous occasions, we recognize their commitment to
regional security, and thank them for their continued participation in BALTOPS and
their navies’ contributions toward a stable maritime environment.
A strong alliance of navies will enable us all
to maintain the most basic human rights: freedom and safety. We must remain
dynamic in our capabilities while also prioritizing our resources to maintain
and expand naval capabilities that remain far ahead of those who seek to
disrupt stability. Continued investment in our collective naval capabilities
will allow us to ensure regional security and prosperity well into the future.
Adm. James G. Foggo III is Commander, US Naval Forces Europe and Africa and Commander, NATO Allied Joint Force Command Naples. Follow US Naval Forces Europe-Africa/US 6th Fleet and NATO JFC Naples on Twitter @USNavyEurope and @JFC_Naples, respectively.
The commander of US Naval Forces Europe and Africa and NATO Allied Joint Force Command Naples argues that “a strong alliance of navies will enable us all to maintain the most basic human rights: freedom and safety.”
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