News item | 20-01-2025 | 19:08
To improve vigilance in the Baltic Sea area, NATO today launched a new maritime mission. Baltic Sentry must ensure, among other things, the security of critical submarine infrastructure, such as energy and data cables. The Royal Navy supplies a number of ships for this purpose.
Ground troops from the army and F-35 fighter planes from the air force are already active on the eastern flank of the NATO treaty area. Thanks Baltic Sentry Defense now also provides official NATO deployments from sea. The mission follows possible sabotage actions in the Baltic Sea between Finland and Estonia. Some cables were damaged there at the end of last month. Both countries are leading in the investigations that are now taking place. Defense is ready to provide support in this regard.
Luymes and Tromp
Zr.Ms. Luymes and Zr.Ms. Tromp contribute to Baltic Sentry from their current commitment to NATO fleets. The hydrographic survey vessel Luymes is currently the flagship of the Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 1. De Tromp fulfills that role for the Standing NATO Maritime Group 1. Zr.Ms. Schiedam will also join next week. The intention is for the ships to play a role at least until the end of February Baltic Sentry.
Commander of the Naval Forces Vice Admiral René Tas: “With this contribution we show that we are determined to step up our efforts. We make our presence and vigilance known, securing our undersea infrastructure. It is essential for the Alliance to prevent destabilizing activities through deterrence on the one hand and by taking action if deterrence proves ineffective on the other.”
Biggest effort in decades
With the deployment of the navy, the Dutch deployment on the eastern flank has not been so great in decades. 4 F-35s of the Royal Netherlands Air Force have been operating from Estonia for some time. They ensure that Russian aircraft do not enter the NATO treaty area.
Army soldiers have also been in the area for quite some time. They are part of the enhanced Forward Presence in Lithuania. The Netherlands has supplied approximately 270 soldiers for this battle group since 2017.