History

History of The Amber hope

1995

The Exercise "Amber Hope", as a traditional multinational military exercise takes its origin in 1995 - when the first series of the Exercise lasted four days only and involve only three countries - Lithuania, as a host country, Denmark, and Poland. Its success has spurred subsequent series of the Exercise held in the spirit of Partnership for Peace.

1996

The second series of the Exercise in 1996 gave way to the extension of the scope of the Exercise both in terms of the duration and participants. Since 1996 countries have been contributing to the Exercise by sending military observers. The first ones were from Estonia, Germany and Latvia.

1997

"Amber Hope 1997" added a new aspect to the Exercise by involving non-governmental organizations - the International Red Cross Committee joined the military in training. After this Exercise, a decision was made to hold the Exercise in future on a biennial basis.

1999

"Amber Hope 1999" marked a leap from an exercise designated for company-level training to a battalion-level exercise. In 1999, the common Lithuanian-Polish battalion LITPOLBAT was for the first time involved in the "Amber Hope" Exercise.

The largest of the "Amber Hope" Exercise series was held in 2001, in terms of the number of participating countries. It was also the largest exercise ever held in the Baltic States by that time. It was divided into two training areas - those of Rukla and Pabradë - and involved over 2,800 military and civilian personnel from 14 foreign countries, representatives from 7 countries as military observers.

2003

"Amber Hope 2003" was the last exercise before Lithuania's accession to NATO.

2005

"Amber Hope" in 2005 opened a new page in the history of the Exercise and since then it has been hosted by Lithuania as a NATO country.

"Amber Hope 2007" aim is to unite forces of the active NATO Allies and Partners for a joint action. Military and civilians from 10 countries - Armenia, Canada, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the United Kingdom and the United States of America - as well as representatives from multinational military units and civilian non-governmental organizations, in total 1,700 personnel took part in the Exercise. Byelorussia, Georgia, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine contributed to the Exercise by sending their observers.