JustinTime Profile picture
Interested in defence, strategy and foreign affairs. I make infographics about unit structure. @UCL student in IR, Politics and Eastern European studies

Oct 15, 2022, 14 tweets

ORBAT of NATO's Enhanced Forward Presence mission as of October 2022. A 🧵
#Military #WeAreNATO

Most of the information used was found on various NATO websites and scouring MODs' official Twitter accounts for clues as to what kind of contribution countries made, so bear in mind that it probably does not fully represent the composition of the BGs

eFP was launched in 2016 to deploy 4 multinational battlegroups (battalion-strength) in Poland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to defend and deter any attacks from Russia and Belarus and to ensure an attack on one would be an attack on all

Since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, 4 additional battlegroups were created in Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, and Hungary. Bringing the entire force to an estimated 10000-11000 deployed troops.

Each battlegroup has a "lead nation" which commands all units within the formation. Italy (in the process of taking over command), the UK, Hungary, Canada, Germany, the US, France, and the Czech Republic are "lead nations".

BGs are not the only force protecting NATO's eastern flank. In reality, countries bordering Russia, Belarus and Ukraine provide the bulk of NATO troops. Here are some numbers from June:

As for the composition of the BGs themselves, there is no standardised unit composition. However, we can note a couple of things:
Firstly, the majority of BGs rely on mechanised infantry formations. No real surprise there.

Secondly, a high emphasis on tank formations in BGs deployed in the Baltic countries.

This makes sense since Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian armies do not have any tanks. Deploying MBTs bolsters capabilities and provides training opportunities for soldiers who would have to face Russian tank columns (or what's left of them).

Finally, a significant number of battalions or companies are "ad-hoc". Meaning, they were created by merging different units to form a reinforced company/battalion.

It enables armies to have task-specific and flexible formations or is the result of armies not having the capability to fully deploy and sustain a formation
abroad. Here is an example of what 🇫🇷 decided to bring to 🇪🇪 compared to their traditional tank squadron
cc:@battle_order

Every unit with this symbol ﹇ above the unit size is an "ad-hoc" formation. For logistics and support contributions, there is no detailed information on what each country brought, so I cannot confidently comment on that.

Similarly to my post on lend-leased vehicles to Ukraine, this ORBAT will quickly become outdated as BGs are reinforced and units rotated. Still, I think it is interesting to see what was deployed almost 8 months after the start of the Russo-Ukrainian war.

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