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.
“It was the first time for us to practice launching an attack drone from a naval ship and searching for a target,” said Junior Sergeant Silver Jäger, head of the unmanned aircraft unit of the Valgamaa District, Regional Command South, Estonian Defence League. “At sea, navigation is much more difficult than on land, as there are no landmarks to fly by – this made it difficult for the drones to reach the targets, but also for the ships’ crews to detect us.”
Since the beginning of exercise Pikne, Estonian and allied naval forces have practised joint manoeuvres, communication between ships and shore-based headquarters, mine hunting, boarding from one ship to another, patrolling Estonian maritime areas, guarding artillery firing from the sea and force protection against boats, ships, aircraft and drones.
“These exercises – starting from mine-hunting for clearing the sea routes until drone warfare for protecting the ships – were part of the various components of naval warfare, all of which are necessary for enabling deployment of Allied reinforcements to Estonia through the sea lines of communication,” said Captain (N) said Johan-Elias Seljamaa, the Deputy Commander of the Estonian Navy.
All the naval activities of exercise Pikne were based on mutual cooperation between the Estonian naval vessel Kindral Kurvits, the Maritime Operations Centre (Estonian Navy), the French vessels FS Croix du Sud and FS Commandant Blaison, drone unit from the Estonian Defence League, air force unit operating a Cessna, as well various land forces unit.
Exercise Pikne began for the naval vessels on December 2, with EML Kindral Kurvits leaving the Estonian Mine harbour, FS Commandant the Tallinn Old Harbour and FS Croix du Sud joining them on the Gulf of Finland. On the first day of the exercise, the ships relocated to the exercise area in the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland. The activities on the sea were integrated into the broader scenario of the exercise, focusing on the deployment and interoperability of Allied forces in the Baltic Sea region.
International military exercise Pikne („Lightning“), part of NATO activity Brilliant Eagle, focuses on Allied rapid deployability and interoperability in the Baltic Sea region. During the exercise, supplementary Allied units are rapidly deployed to Estonia via land, sea and air, to support and train together with the NATO Multinational Battlegroup in Estonia, the Estonian Defence Forces and Estonian Defence League in a simulated war situation. The exercise, conducted from December 2-15, 2024, is led by the Estonian Division and nearly 2,000 participants from Estonia, Latvia, USA, France and United Kingdom participate in it.
