News

This week, the Estonian Defense Forces hosted an international sports camp in Kääriku Sports Center aimed at preparing wounded veterans for the 2025 Invictus Games in Vancouver. This was the first time in the history of the Invictus Games that an international pre-event training camp was organized.

Today, December 15, the multinational military exercise Pikne and snap exercise Okas 24-2, conduced from December 2 to 15, 2024, were announced completed. The exercise, involving nearly 2,000 Estonian and Allied troops, was conducted in the northern and north-eastern Estonia, as well as on the Gulf of Finland.

On Friday, December 13, the reservists of the Engineer Battalion (1st Infantry Brigade) returned to their duty stations to continue refreshment training as part of the flexible snap exercise (SNAPEX) Okas 24-2, announced on December 2.

From December 10 to 12, Estonian and Allied units conducted a Live Fire Exercise at Sirgala training area as part of multinational military exercise Pikne.

On Sunday, Dec. 8, the active phase of Exercise Pikne concluded with a field training exercise including offensive and defensive battles. The coming week will include live-fire exercises for Allied units at the Sirgala training area.

On Saturday, December 7, members of the Regional Command North-East of the Estonian Defence League held simulated defensive battles as part of multinational military exercise Pikne. Units from Estonia, France, the United Kingdom and Latvia were involved in the training.  

On Saturday, December 7, exercise Pikne concluded for Estonian and Allied naval vessels. During the last days of the exercise, the naval units practiced cooperation on patrolling the maritime areas and protecting the ships against threats from other vessels and drones.

The Military Intelligence Center of Estonian Defence Forces has set up a hotline on its website to expand the possibilities of collecting information for the purpose of ensuring national security.

On Thursday, December 5, reserve troops of the Short-Range Air Defense Battery, Estonian Division, practiced countering air threats using man-portable air defence systems Piorun as part of exercise Pikne. The reservists were ordered to report to duty by the Estonian Government on December 3 with the announcement of initiating a snap exercise (SNAPEX) Okas 24-2 („Quill 24-2“).

Throughout this week, the minehunter FS Croix du Sud of the French Navy is involved in hunting historical ordnances in the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland as part of the exercise Pikne („Lightning“). The first ordnance was countermined on the 4th of December.