NATO Multinational Battlegroup Lithuania
Norway contributes forces to NATO Multinational Battlegroup Lithuania, as part of the Alliance's enhanced forward presence in central and eastern Europe.
Background
At the NATO Summit in Warsaw in 2016, the Alliance decided to reinforce its military presence in the Baltic States and Poland. This decision was taken in response to Russia’s invasion and illegal annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea in 2014.
NATO’s reinforced presence is collectively referred to as Enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) and constitutes a defensive and reassurance measure. The presence is a key element of the Alliance’s collective defence and deterrence in the region. Initially, the presence consisted of four multinational battlegroups (MNBGs) deployed in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.
Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, NATO established four additional multinational battlegroups in Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, and Hungary.
What does Norway do?
As of 2026, Norway contributes approximately 150 soldiers, the majority from the Norwegian Army. The Norwegian contribution forms part of a German-led multinational battlegroup in Lithuania. Norway’s first contribution was deployed in the spring of 2017. Since July 2019, Norway has provided a mechanised company battlegroup of 120–150 soldiers, alternating between Telemark Battalion and Brigade North.
The current Norwegian force consists of around 150 soldiers and support personnel. Most personnel are drawn from the Army’s Brigade North, although personnel from other branches of the Armed Forces are also deployed to Lithuania.
The force to which Norway contributes is based at a Lithuanian garrison in Rukla, approximately 90 kilometres from the capital, Vilnius. Norwegian soldiers train and exercise alongside troops from Germany, Belgium, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and the host nation, Lithuania. The contribution rotates among Alliance member states.
Background information
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Norway has contributed with soldiers in the Enhanced Forward Presence since spring 2017. In April 2017, a small forward team of Norwegian military personnel was sent to Rukla to make sure that everything was ready when the Norwegian main forces arrived in the garrison in late May.
From May until December 2017, the Norwegian contribution consisted of 200 men and women from the Army. The majority of the soldiers belonged to the Telemark Battalion. They were, however, supported by soldiers from the whole Brigade North, which included fire control, military police, communications support, logistics and engineers. The Norwegian forces brought with them main battle tanks, CV90 infantry fighting vehicles, combat engineering vehicles (STING), armored engineering vehicles, bridge layers, armored recovery vehicles, fire control vehicles, tracked vehicles, excavators and command and control vehicles.
From January 2018 the Norwegian contribution consisted of about 30 soldiers from a reconnaissance unit from the Norwegian Army. The Norwegian force contributed with collecting information for NATO's Enhanced Forward Presence in the Baltic States and Poland. The information helped creating a situational picture and situational awareness so that the decision-making basis for the commanders was as good as possible.
From the end of July 2018 to July 2019 Norway contributed with 10–13 soldiers who mainly came from the Army's Artillery Battalion. Their main task was to provide combat and decision support to the operation.
From July 2019 to January 2020, Norway contributed with a mechanised company battlegroup consisting of around 120 soldiers from the Armoured Battalion. From 2020 to winter 2021, Norway had around 120 soldiers from the Telemark Battalion deployed to the operation.
In 2021, the Armoured Battalion returned to the operation with a force of around 140 soldiers.
Following the Russian attack on Ukraine in February 2022, the original infantry company was immediately enhanced by an extra mechanised infantry troop.
