Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06TALLINN768
2006-08-24 08:30:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Tallinn
Cable title:  

ESTONIA LEADS THE WAY: MILITARY TRANSFORMATION

Tags:  MARR MOPS NATO PGOV PREL EN 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0022
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DE RUEHTL #0768/01 2360830
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 240830Z AUG 06
FM AMEMBASSY TALLINN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8943
INFO RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO IMMEDIATE 1126
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)

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