ESTONIA LEADS THE WAY: MILITARY TRANSFORMATION

C O N F I D E N T I A L TALLINN 000768 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/24/2016 TAGS: MARR MOPS NATO PGOV PREL EN SUBJECT: ESTONIA LEADS THE WAY: MILITARY TRANSFORMATION REF: A. TALLINN 00091 ¶B. TALLINN 00311 ¶C. TALLINN 00740 ¶D. TALLINN 00767 Classified By: CDA Jeff Goldstein for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Summary. Over the last several years, Estonia has made significant strides towards modernizing its military and meeting its NATO requirements. Since 2001, Estonia has increased its defense spending 13 percent annually. The GOE has contributed forces to priority international operations abroad, including Iraq and Afghanistan. The Estonian Defense Forces (EDF) has also leveraged participation in these missions to provide its troops with valuable operational and combat experience unavailable at home, and identify and address shortcomings in military operations and training. However, there is growing resentment within the GOE and EDF that these efforts do not receiving the recognition they deserve. Although they do not scream and shout about it, this resentment does increase when the Estonians see their Baltic neighbors receiving more FMF and Coalition Support Funds than they do. End Summary. Putting their money where their mouth is -------------- ¶2. (U) In the 15 years since re-independence, Estonia has transformed its military into a capable and experienced, if small-scale, contributor to NATO and the global war on terror (GWOT). This has been achieved, in part, because of the GOE's willingness to direct some of the proceeds from Estonia's economic success into the defense budget. Since 2001, the GOE has increased its defense spending annually by 13 percent. This year defense spending will increase from 1.61 to 1.84 percent of GDP ($309 million). "(We) have promised NATO to spend two percent of GDP on defense and we must reach this goal by 2010," explained Prime Minister Ansip in May, "(and) no concessions whatsoever can be made on this, because the most important thing a small country can offer to NATO is reliability" (ref A). ¶3. (SBU) The Ministry of Defense (MOD) is making the most of this extra funding by enacting root-and-branch military transformation for greater efficiency and interoperability within NATO. The MOD and Estonian Defense Forces (EDF) have focused on a few key areas to get the most bang for their buck. - NATO obligations: The Ministry of Defense's (MOD) two biggest projects are the upgrade of Amari airbase and procurement of a short range air defense (SHORAD) system in order to meet their NATO obligations. The GOE has pledged $40 million for Amari with a completion date of ¶2010. Additionally, the GOE will spend $52 million to procure its new SHORAD system, the largest military tender in Estonia's history. - Hardware Upgrades: The GOE is upgrading its Mine Counter Measure (MCM) capability with purchases of MCM vessels from the UK. The EDF has also purchased an artillery battalion (AN) set of 155 MM guns and 65 modern armored personal carriers (APC). Finally, the Estonians continue to purchase, via Foreign Military Financing (FMF) and Direct Commercial Sales (DCS),night vision devices (NVD),thermal weapons sights, and modern secure communications. - Training: Estonia has completely revised its joint command and general staff with NATO standard doctrine. The EDF also continues to send 45 to 50 officers and non- commissioned officers (NCO) to U.S. military courses each year. -Specialization: Understanding that Estonia's security ultimately depends on NATO, the EDF has reoriented its focus from territorial protection to niche capabilities to fill NATO needs. The EDF has focused on developing a rapid reaction infantry unit, a Human Intelligence (HUMINT) team, and an Explosives Ordinance Disposal (EOD) team. Learning by doing -------------- ¶4. (U) Estonia's military transformation has involved more than just acquiring new equipment or training. From the top down, the philosophy within the MOD and EDF is one of learning by doing. Nothing exemplifies this better than Estonia's participation in international peace support operations (PSO). In just a short period of time, Estonia has gone from an aid recipient to a country that contributes financially and materially far more than is expected for its size. Since 1995, over 1500 EDF troops have participated in international PSOs around the world. Currently, Estonia participates in Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF),the International Stabilization and Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, and peacekeeping in Kosovo and Bosnia. ¶5. (SBU) The GOE has used these missions to give its military first hand operational and combat experience that is otherwise unavailable at home. This has created a virtuous circle where Estonia invests in upgrading its military, deploys that investment abroad, and in turn gives the EDF an invaluable opportunity to assess areas for improvement in order to set higher goals and objectives. Estonia's current participation in the UK- led PRT in Afghanistan would not have been possible without the experience gleaned from its earlier mission in Iraq. Currently 228 EDF personal are deployed abroad. The MOD's 2010 usability target (for force deployment) is 350 troops. This represents nine percent of Estonia's total armed forces and almost five percent of its total defense budget. Diving in the deep end -------------- ¶6. (C) Rather than play it safe and assume low risk PSOs, Estonia has chosen to participate in some of the toughest and most dangerous foreign missions. The GOE has designated Afghanistan as Estonia's main foreign military mission priority for the next two years (with a parliamentary mandate through the end of 2007). Estonia is part of a UK-led PRT in Helmand province, Afghanistan's main opium poppy cultivation region, where Taliban activity has been increasing. The Helmand PRT represents a huge commitment for this small country -- the largest it has ever undertaken (ref B). Since May, Estonia has gradually increased its contributions to just over 80 soldiers. This will increase to 120 by the end of the year (comparable in size to the Lithuanian-led PRT). The GOE is under no illusions regarding the challenges and dangers the mission entails: In August, the Estonians suffered three casualties from a Taliban attack near the Pakistan border (ref C). ¶7. (C) An EDF platoon has also been serving in Iraq since 2003 as part of OIF (with its current parliamentary mandate expiring at the end of 2006) under the command of the First Brigade of the U.S. Fourth Infantry Division. The EDF has suffered 18 casualties, including two deaths. The Estonians have consistently received high praise from U.S. soldiers for their professionalism and willingness to serve shoulder-to-shoulder on dangerous missions like foot and motorized patrols, searches, escorting convoys, and counter-insurgency activities. ¶8. (U) Estonia is also carving out a role within the NATO Response Force (NRF). The flagship of the Estonian Navy, the Admiral Pitka, recently finished a tour as a command ship for the NATO rapid reaction mine force. Currently, an Estonian EOD team is part of the NRF till the end of 2006, after which an Estonian military police unit will participate in the NRF. The MOD is preparing to commit an additional unit of up to 40 personnel to be a part of the NRF sometime in 2006 and perhaps as many as 250-300 troops as part of a Baltic Battalion for NRF 14 in 2010. On the European front, the Estonians are participating in the Nordic EU Battle group, to which the MOD has committed 40 to 45 troops on standby. Remaining challenges and hurdles -------------- ¶9. (C) Estonia's participation in PSOs (especially in Iraq and Afghanistan) have revealed to the EDF key areas for further improvement: - Language: While EDF troops are able to communicate fluently in English, there remains a lack of interpreters in the local languages in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kosovo. - Night Vision Devices (NVD) and encrypted communications (crypto-comm): Estonia needs more and better NVDs and crypto-comm equipment for its deployed troops. This equipment is also needed for modeling and simulating counter terrorism training. - Interoperability of frequency (communications) management: Last May, APC-carrying EDF troops suffered an attack from an improvised explosive device (IED) while on patrol with U.S. troops outside of Baghdad. Both the U.S. and EDF troops use their own jamming devices to prevent insurgents from remotely detonating IEDs; in this case, however, they interfered with each other leading to the IED exploding underneath the Estonian APC. Unfortunately, this is also a problem in Afghanistan with UK and EDF troops (ref D). - Professionalizing the EDF: Due to mandatory conscription, the EDF lacks a consistently high quality of non-commissioned officers (NCO). NCOs who wish to become professional soldiers generally join the officer corps in lieu of remaining on duty as a low-paid NCO. Additionally, the EDF lacks training and performance standards for its NCOs. While progress has been made with the career officers and NCOs in the Scout Battalion, there is unfortunately no political will to fully professionalize the army. ¶10. (C) Comment. Estonia's success in transforming its military into an effective and experienced contributor to NATO and other international military operations is exceptional. The Estonians tend not to be very good at blowing their own horn. However, there is a growing perception within the GOE and EDF that these efforts have not received the recognition they deserve. There is also some frustration over the disparity of attention given to other allies whose contributions are proportionally smaller than Estonia's. This unhappiness only increases when the Estonians see their Baltic neighbors receiving more FMF and Coalition Support Funds than they do. GOLDSTEIN