On November 14-17, NATO enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) Battlegroup Latvia together with the Latvian Mechanized Infantry Brigade conducted Iron Spear 2022. Alongside the Allies based in Latvia, this regularly scheduled armoured gunnery competition saw a number of multinational crews currently deployed across the Baltic Sea region. At the ?daži range, 34 teams from 13 Allied member states demonstrated their excellence in whatever fire mission they were given. Held since 2018, Iron Spear is designed to improve cohesion and interoperability across the eFP Battlegroups in the Baltic States and Poland while simultaneously showcasing NATO’s firepower.

In addition to the Main Battle Tank and Infantry Fighting Vehicle competitions, the event saw a daytime and a night-time firepower demonstration. All in all, the ?daži range hosted armoured crews from Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Thoughtout all its iterations, Iron Spear has strengthened NATO’s mobility, force projection and cooperation across the Baltic Sea region with a strong focus on interoperability — the cornerstone of the Alliance’s collective deterrence and defence against any adversary.

eFP is a NATO-allied forward-deployed defense in Central and Northern Europe. This posture in Central Europe through Poland and Northern Europe through Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, is in place in order to protect the security of NATO’s Central and Northern European member states on NATO’s eastern flank. 

Following Russia’s invasion of Crimea, NATO’s member states agreed at the 2016 Warsaw summit to forward deploy four multinational battalion battle groups to areas most likely to be attacked. The four multinational battalion battle groups are based in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland, and led by the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, and the United States.