The Commanders of the Estonian Defence Forces Division and the UK 3rd Division have signed a divisional cooperation plan.
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Press Release, Tallinn, 08 January 2025: [auto-translated] Today, the Commander of the Estonian Defence Forces Division, Major General Indrek Sirel, and the Commander of the 3rd Division of the UK, Major General Oliver Brown, signed a divisional cooperation plan.
The aim of the cooperation plan is to implement the experience and know-how of the UK 3rd Division and to organise professional training and information exchange according to the needs of the Defence Forces division until 2027. The plan is based on the bilateral defence cooperation roadmap signed by the UK and Estonian defence ministers, which sets out joint activities in the coming years and in the long term to strengthen the threshold defence of NATO’s eastern flank in Estonia.
“I am pleased that we are taking another step in implementing the roadmap in addition to the already existing close cooperation. The implementation of the plan will add the involvement of specialists from the 3rd Division in our daily activities and training in accordance with the experience of Ukraine, the needs of the Estonian Defence Forces division and our plans, which will provide new opportunities to increase the division’s readiness in fulfilling its main task,” said Major General Indrek Sirel.
The UK 3rd Division, or ‘Iron Division’, is the UK’s deployable combat core, which is supplemented with other units as needed. The division is assigned to the NATO chain of command by the Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Forces and subordinated to the NATO North-East Corps. The division fulfils two main objectives in the military defence of Estonia – it links the battles of the defence districts, brigades and other branches of the army and is a link between the allies and their military capabilities. The division includes units from both Estonia and allied countries. The Estonian units in the division include the 1st Infantry Brigade, the 2nd Infantry Brigade, a logistics battalion, a reconnaissance battalion, an artillery battalion and a staff and communications battalion.
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