The UK has appointed a special brigade to defend Estonia, which is ready to quickly redeploy to Estonia from July 2025 in accordance with NATO defence plans and emerging needs.
This is reported by ERR.
The British Armed Forces are sending Challenger 3 tanks to Estonia, among other things, and are also preparing for the pre-deployment of other weapons and ammunition that meet the brigade's needs.
"The close defence cooperation between Estonia and the UK is developing in an increasingly concrete way. The roadmap signed today is based on NATO's new defence plans.
One of its main points is a long-term agreement that Britain will assign [its] 4th Brigade to reinforce Estonia, which will be maintained and developed in Britain in high readiness to reinforce Estonia in a crisis or in the event of a conflict," said Estonian Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur.
On Thursday, Pevkur met with his British counterpart John Healey on the sidelines of the NATO Defence Ministers' meeting in Brussels.
The two ministers signed a roadmap for bilateral defence cooperation, which sets out joint actions by Estonia and the UK in the coming years and in the long term to strengthen NATO's eastern wing threshold defence in Estonia, the Defence Ministry said.
Under the joint declaration, the UK will keep its 4th Brigade on high alert from July 2025 to rapidly reinforce Estonia's defences based on NATO defence plans if the need arises.
200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000Pevkur said that as part of the brigade's forward deployment, the UK will send the latest and most modern combat equipment to Estonia, such as the Archer mobile artillery, Boxer and Ajax armoured personnel carriers, and Challenger 3 tanks.
According to Pevkur, the brigade's development activities also include regular exercises to practice the brigade's redeployment to Estonia. The next such exercises are, for example, the large-scale Siil exercise in 2025, which will see a reinforcement brigade assigned to Estonia arrive to practice the redeployment.
In addition to the reinforcement brigade, a British armoured battle group is permanently stationed in Estonia, which has been and remains part of the 1st Infantry Brigade of the Estonian Defence Forces since 2017.
At the same time, the UK supports the development of the Estonian Division and its headquarters, which in addition to staff officers includes a Deputy Division Commander, a British Brigadier General, and advises on the development of the Estonian Defence Forces' long-range indirect fire capabilities.
The Estonian Division comprises two brigades – the 1st Infantry Brigade, based mainly in Tapa, and the 2nd Infantry Brigade, located in southern Estonia.
For its part, Estonia provides the best conditions and infrastructure for hosting allies, including training opportunities and logistical support. The roadmap also includes agreements on cooperation in the area of joint procurement and development of the defense industry, the Defense Ministry reported.
Recall that in August, the Danish battalion officially joined the multinational brigade of the North Atlantic Alliance in Latvia, deployed as part of the strengthening of NATO's eastern flank.
Danish servicemen arrived in Latvia along with military equipment.
Prepared by: Nina Petrovich