NATO EXERCISES IN ARMENIA WILL IMPROVE INTERACTION OF UNITS OF THE ALLIANCE

WPS Agency
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
October 1, 2008 Wednesday
Russia

NATO exercises Cooperative Longbow/ Lancer – 2008 will take place in
Armenia in the framework of Partnership for Peace program between
September 29 and October 21. Colonel Seiran Shakhsuvaryan, press
secretary of the Armenian Defense Minister reported earlier that the
goal of the exercise was to increase the level of interaction between
units of NATO and partner countries. More than 900 servicemen from
21 countries including seven NATO members and 14 participants of NATO
programs Partnership for Peace and Istanbul Initiative will take part
in the exercises.

Earlier, deputy chief of the main staff of the armed forces of Armenia,
Major General Arshaluis Paytyan, reported that both NATO member states
including the US, UK, Poland, Lithuania and Canada and post-Soviet
states of Georgia, Kazakhstan and Moldova would take part in the
exercises. The exercises will be commanded by Lieutenant General Jack
Gardner, deputy commander of central base Heidelberg representing
the US armed forces.

The exercises will take part in two stages: command staff and field
exercises. Their participants represent various branches of the
armed forces and various military professions, including drivers,
doctors and sappers.