Baltops 2000

The 28th annual maritime exercise Baltic Operations (Baltops) 2000 will take place in the Baltic Sea from June 2-17, 2000. Ten European nations and the United States will participate in this year's exercise. For the first time, full integration between NATO and Partnership for Peace (PFP) countries is planned. The United States Navy, as the inviting partner, requested Sweden, a Baltops participant since 1993, to host the most open and encompassing Baltops exercise ever.

Baltops 2000 will include about 50 ships, submarines and 20 aircraft from European allies and Partnership for Peace (PFP) nations that will include: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. Nearly 4000 navy men and women will meet in Stockholm for the opening ceremony; this will be the largest visit of international warships to the Swedish capital.

Baltops 2000 is intended to improve interoperability with allies and PFP countries by conducting a peace support operation at sea, including exercises in gunnery, replenishment-at-sea, undersea warfare, radar tracking, mine countermeasures, seamanship, search and rescue, maritime interdiction operations and scenarios dealing with potential real world crises.

Baltops 2000 demonstrates maritime member solidarity and enhances mutual understanding and coordination of maritime operations, demonstrated by attaching one of the newest Swedish submarines under operational control of a NATO-nation and the incorporation of the French-German naval task group for the first time.

The emphasis of this exercise is on regional stability, regional understanding and interoperability among the participating forces.

According to Rear Admiral Michael Malone, the officer conducting the exercise, "This is an opportunity for every nation involved to better understand, learn and develop more effective relationships with each other."

Admiral James O. Ellis, Jr., Commander in Chief, U.S. Naval Forces Europe, is the exercise sponsor. Rear Admiral Malone, Commander, Carrier Group Eight, based in Norfolk, Virginia, will command the exercise from his flagship USS Ross (DDG 71).

The maritime exercise will end with a joint visit to Kiel, Germany.

Baltops Joint Press and Information Centers (JPIC) are in

Stockholm (1-7 June), Visby
Gotland (1-17 June)
Kiel, Germany (15-25 June).

Point of contact is Lt. John Oliveira, Visby JPIC: +46 498 27 1459, or Stockholm JPIC: +46 708 96 5699. Alternate point of contact is LCDR Jonas Montgomery RWN +46 8 502 629 16. Email: jonas.montgomery@pub.mil.se; fax: +46 8502 638 40; cellular: +46 705895152.