“Click!” Sebastian attaches the wings to the fuselage of what looks like a model airplane. Then he lifts it up and holds it in his arms. “It’s good Launch wind,” says Oversming Erik Staff, wager for the drone team. The propeller spins, Sebastian leaps forward, stretches his arms up and throws the seven-kilogram plane up and forward. Then it ascended by its own machine into the blue sky above the practice field at Pabradè in Lithuania. Have to accelerate to get the drone in the air. Video: Håvard Greger Hagen / news will show defense will the 150 Norwegian soldiers in Lithuania are part of the NATO effort Enhanced Forward Presence (EFP) in Poland and the Baltic countries. The measure means that NATO countries have deployed larger military forces there than before. It should show that NATO is willing to defend the territory of the entire alliance. – We will be an extra layer of security in the defense of Lithuania if necessary, says Harald Moesødegård, senior representative for the Norwegian force in the country. – We notice very well that we are a photo: Håvard Greger Hagen / news Lithuania was forced into the Soviet Union for almost fifty years. In 1990, the country was the first of the Soviet republics to raise loose. And the Norwegian soldiers here are well aware that they are closer to the war in Ukraine, both geographically and mentally. Not far between Ukrainian flags, and on the front of city buses in the capital it says “Vilnius loves Ukraine”. – Here, parents and grandparents experienced being under Soviet rule not too long ago, says Moesødegård. According to the Ministry of Defence, Norway spent NOK 246 million on the effort in Lithuania last year and it will cost roughly the same amount this year. From these two vehicles, the soldiers control the drones in the air over Lithuania. Photo: Håvard Greger Hagen / news Boards from the back seat in Lithuania are 150 Norwegian soldiers in a multi-national NATO force. The training area at Pabradè is not far from Belarus, a country where the regime is allied with Russia. Drone operator Elen Sofie Skatval and team leader Erik Staff. Photo: Håvard Greger Hagen / news inside an armored vehicle Sitan Sitter Erik Staff and drone operator Elen Sofie Skatval in the back seat. From here they control the drone, which is now just over a kilometer away. Erik has been working with drones in the Norwegian Armed Forces since 2015. 20-year-old Elen received training as a drone operator during his first service at home in Norway. She had recently finished it, and then she enlisted for half a year for the mission in Lithuania. The drone operator controls the drone from the back seat of an armored vehicle. Photo: Håvard Greger Hagen / news – Dronar is exciting because there is something a bit new and something that is being bet on, she says. The drone team will be security for a column that will move forward to resupply some patrols. – We are going through an area with a higher risk. That is why we will place drones at the front of the column, says Staff. . This is a picture of a small column of Norwegian military vehicles in the training field in Pabradé in Lithuania. The picture is taken for the strength’s own drone. Photo: Defense – Old Technology The drone they use is of the type “Puma II”. It looks like a large model airplane and must be thrown into the air. The Puma can be sent two miles from guard and can be in the air for two to three hours before the battery needs to be changed. – The technology is getting old, but we make good use of it, says Erik Staff. In the training area in Lithuania, there is a lot of pine forest which is more difficult to see through than the drone soldiers are used to from home. Erik manages the solution of the mission, while Elen controls the drone and the three different cameras: one for use in daylight, low -light camera and a heat search. The crew in the cars are forced to shoot. Solvor Oma fires a machine gun from the top of the driver’s cab on a truck in a support squad. – I usually drive a truck and don’t do this very often. But we have to be able to shoot to defend ourselves, she says. Photo: Håvard Greger Hagen / news 19 year old Solvor Oma is usually a driver, but now she stands up through the roof of the driver’s cabin and shoot with machine gun, ointment after ointment, with sharp. The army also uses the tiny Black Hornet drone which only weighs 17 grams. He is developed and produced in Norway. Photo: Håvard Greger Hagen / news will be able to be in the hostile area. The Norwegian soldiers make up a slightly equipped clarification department with support functions. – We must be able to operate in the depths of hostile territory. Then drones can be used to gather information about the enemy’s groupings behind the front. They can be used either independently to quickly gather information about the enemy or the terrain, or together with patrols on foot, says Rittmeister Johan Hultén. He is squadron commander for the Norwegian force. If it can be done, we will always use drones for reconnaissance first, Victory Squadron Commander Johan Hultén. Photo: Håvard Greger Hagen / news The soldiers are in no doubt; by keeping watch with drones, they can save lives in a war. The drones gather information quickly and they reduce the risk the soldiers exposed themselves to. – If the weather permits, and it is otherwise possible, we will always use drones to explore an area before we send soldiers in, says Hultén. After a quarter, the army will have a total of ten drone layers with this type of drone, and the remaining battalion two left. In addition, there will be tiny little drones of the type “Black Hornet” in a quarter of a team in the army, or at least in the quarter of the squad wager Erik Staff think it is rewarding to do service in Lithuania. – We are here as soldiers, but we are also here as human beings, he says. Senior Sergeant Erik Staff has been working with drones in the Norwegian Armed Forces since 2015. Now the Norwegian is the team leader for the drone team in Lithuania. Photo: Håvard Greger Hagen / news
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This is how Norwegian soldiers train with drones over Lithuania – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
