In addition to building a common defence line, the Baltic nations also agreed to enhance cooperation on the development and deployment of HIMARS multiple rocket launch systems.<\/p>\n
With concerns over the security situation in the Baltics mounting, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia agreed<\/a> in January to build a common Baltic defense line along their borders with Russia and Belarus.<\/p>\n The idea seems to exploit lessons from the highly effective defensive systems that have worked well in Ukraine.<\/p>\n According to the Lithuanian Minister of Defense, Arvydas Anu\u0161auskas<\/a>, the defense line will include a complex set of measures designed to impede the movement of enemy forces invading the Baltics.<\/p>\n The plans include a network of around 600 fortified bunkers<\/a> in Estonia alone, at a cost of some $64m, and 18 counter-mobility parks<\/a> in Lithuania, where anti-personnel and anti-vehicle equipment like tank traps will be stored.<\/p>\n The defensive terrain will include the creation of natural barriers such as tree-lined avenues and a deepening of drainage ditches in the border region. Existing fences with elements of concertina razor wire along the Lithuanian<\/a> and Latvian<\/a> borders with Belarus, which were installed in the context of the 2021-2022 migrant crisis orchestrated by Minsk, would be incorporated into the fortification system.<\/p>\n The plans exploit some lessons from Ukraine\u2019s battlefields. While there have been successful offensives by Ukraine and the Russian invaders, defense in depth, including bunkers and trenches, has proved highly effective. Ukraine is currently investing $500m<\/a> in new fortifications.<\/p>\n The Baltic defenses send a signal to the Kremlin and help strengthen the credibility of NATO\u2019s current regional deterrence and defense. Given the exposed geo-strategic location of the Baltic states, the issue of physical accessibility is crucial for both allies and adversaries.<\/p>\n In recent years, NATO has sought to improve deterrence by stationing multinational combat-ready forces<\/a> in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.<\/p>\n Although this is clearly an improvement on the alternative, it is obvious that NATO troops on the ground, even if upgraded to brigade-size units<\/a> as agreed at NATO\u2019s Madrid Summit, would need very significant reinforcements to be able to withstand a full-scale Russian invasion<\/a>.<\/p>\n However, there are questions about NATO\u2019s ability to provide these reinforcements smoothly and on time. Since Russia would do everything in its power to prevent the arrival of alliance reinforcements, it is critical that Baltic and NATO\u2019s current tripwire forces hold out for as long as possible.<\/p>\n For military reinforcements, the Baltic states depend on a single land route passage to Poland through the vulnerable Suwa\u0142ki gap<\/a>, a narrow neck of land between Poland and Lithuania, which has Belarus on one side and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad on the other. In a crisis, access to the Baltics for NATO reinforcements could be simultaneously attacked. Russia\u2019s extensive anti-access\/area denial (A2\/AD) capabilities stationed in Kaliningrad are precisely designed to hinder NATO\u2019s military mobility in the region.<\/p>\n Moreover, the Baltic states\u2019 railway infrastructure is still better connected to Russia and Belarus than to Poland and the rest of continental Europe, and its railways are still mostly Russian rather than European gauge.<\/p>\n The continuing use of wide-track railway gauge puts Russia in a favorable position in terms of military logistics, as it would be able to move reinforcements and heavy military equipment by rail directly into the theatre. This will be alleviated somewhat by the new European-gauge $6.25bn Rail Baltica<\/a> line from Warsaw to Helsinki, which runs through the Baltic states and is currently under construction.<\/p>\n NATO\u2019s eastern members are beginning to think harder not just about the possibility of military aggression by Russia, but the details of how to fight against it more effectively. They will thereby substantially strengthen the alliance\u2019s Eastern flank.<\/p>\n