The US has consistently increased the commitment of its special forces in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
In general, US Special Operations Forces soldiers have been continuously present in the Baltic states since 2014 on a rotational basis. In November of 2020 was opened a new special operations base in Riga, allowing U.S and Latvian special operations troops to expand operations. Base includes two helipads and an ammunition storage, half-funded by America’s European Deterrence Initiative.
Recently the US special operations forces conducted exercises at the Riga Spilve airfield using multiple launch rocket systems HIMARS.
The exercise tested the capability of the US Special Operations Forces mobile fire support platform by practically delivering the HIMARS missile system to the MC-130J small aerodrome, immediate runway deployment, simulated shooting and rapid launching of the missile system with maximum readiness to return to the aircraft at maximum readiness.
Apart from that, In January 2021 U.S. Special Operations Command Europe also deployed a forward staff element for the Baltic region in Estonia (the Baltic Region Special Operations Headquarters), detached from the US Special Operations Command in Stuttgart.
Unconditionally, US forces play a leading role in conducting special operations, although the involvement of European allies, in particular the UK and Germany, isn’t significant. Unlike the US, NATO has not organised large-scale collective defence exercises in the Baltic states.
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