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NATO’s Spearhead mission to be enlarged

PR dla Zagranicy
Jo Harper 25.06.2015 12:26
NATO’s rapid response Spearhead Force in Europe, created this year to deal with a perceived growing Russian threat, will be enlarged to up to 40,000 land and sea troops.
Polish defense minister Tomasz Siemoniak (L) and US Secretary of State for Defence Ashton Carter during the second day of Nato Defense Ministers in Brussels, 25 June. Photo: PAP/EPA. Olivier Hoslet Polish defense minister Tomasz Siemoniak (L) and US Secretary of State for Defence Ashton Carter during the second day of Nato Defense Ministers in Brussels, 25 June. Photo: PAP/EPA. Olivier Hoslet

“We decided to further increase the size and capacity of the NATO rapid response force, into which will be added special air, sea and land units,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels.

Defence Minister Tomasz Siemoniak, representing Poland at the NATO meeting, said the extension was a “natural process.”

Most of the troops will be stationed near Russian borders.

“This is a question we have raised from the start, that the force will not only be land forces…No-one in NATO and modern armies thinks any more in terms of one type of armed force,” Siemoniak said.

The troops will be under the command of 6 HQs to be stationed in Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania. The Spearhead Force will include Special Forces and rapid response teams, enforced with marine and air components. (jh)

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