National Armed Forces are the unified armed forces

Armed forces

The armed forces of a country are its government-sponsored defense, fighting forces, and organizations. They exist to further the foreign and domestic policies of their governing body, and to defend that body and the nation it represents from external aggressors. In some countries paramilitary...

 of the Republic of Latvia

Latvia

Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...

. Latvia's defense concept is based upon a rapid response force composed of a mobilization base and a small group of career professionals. The National Armed Forces consists of Land Forces

Latvian Land Forces

Land Forces ) form the regular contingent of the National Armed Forces and provide for the defense of all national territories. The development of the Land Forces is directed towards improving their combat andprofessional capabilities.- Mission :...

, Naval Forces

Latvian Naval Forces

Latvian Naval Forces is a branch of the National Armed Forces tasked with conducting military and rescue operations at sea. Today, they are fully operational and successfully perform all the tasks entrusted to them. The NF perform mine and explosive sweeping on the Baltic Sea, as well as search...

, Air Force

Latvian Air Force

Latvian Air Force is the aviation branch of the National Armed Forces. The first Air Force units were established 1992. It has no air combat capability, thus the defense of Latvian air space is maintained by NATO, with rotating detachments of four aircraft to Lithuania at four-monthly intervals...

, National Guard and others. Latvia has switched to a professional army, the last draft was in 2005. From January 1, 2007, the Latvian army is fully contract-based.

Mission

The mission of the National Armed Forces (NAF) is to defend the sovereignty

Sovereignty

Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a geographic area, such as a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...

 and territorial integrity of the nation and to defend its population against aggression. In order to implement these tasks, the NAF provide for the defense of the nation, its air space and national territorial waters, participate in large scale crisis

Crisis

A crisis is any event that is, or expected to lead to, an unstable and dangerous situation affecting an individual, group, community or whole society...

 response operations, perform emergency rescue

Rescue

Rescue refers to responsive operations that usually involve the saving of life, or prevention of injury during an incident or dangerous situation....

 operations, and participate in international peacekeeping

Peacekeeping

Peacekeeping is an activity that aims to create the conditions for lasting peace. It is distinguished from both peacebuilding and peacemaking....

 operations.

The main mission of the National Armed Forces is to:

• Provide for the inviolability of all national territory, its waters and air space;
• Participate in international operations;
• Participate in national threat elimination;
• Provide for the training of personnel and military reserves.
• Ensure modernization and enhancement of professional combat training;

Structure

National Armed Forces consist of:

• NAF Joint Headquarters
• NAF Commander’s Personal Staff
• Land Forces
  Latvian Land Forces
  Land Forces ) form the regular contingent of the National Armed Forces and provide for the defense of all national territories. The development of the Land Forces is directed towards improving their combat andprofessional capabilities.- Mission :...
  
  
• Naval Forces
  Latvian Naval Forces
  Latvian Naval Forces is a branch of the National Armed Forces tasked with conducting military and rescue operations at sea. Today, they are fully operational and successfully perform all the tasks entrusted to them. The NF perform mine and explosive sweeping on the Baltic Sea, as well as search...
  
  
• Air Force
  Latvian Air Force
  Latvian Air Force is the aviation branch of the National Armed Forces. The first Air Force units were established 1992. It has no air combat capability, thus the defense of Latvian air space is maintained by NATO, with rotating detachments of four aircraft to Lithuania at four-monthly intervals...
  
  
• National Guard
• Special Tasks Unit
• Military Police
  Latvian Military Police
  Latvian Military Police ) provide military discipline and legal order. They were established in 1997. After merging with the Latvian Security Service in 2009, the Military Police is also responsible for security of the Parliament and the President of Latvia ....
  
  
• NAF Staff Battalion
  Latvian National Armed Forces Staff Battalion
  NAF Staff Battalion was formed in 1992 in need to reestablish the national and military traditions and rituals of the Republic of Latvia. The Battalion is a separate unit directly subordinate to the NAF Commander.- Mission :...
  
  
• Security Service of Parliament and State President
  Latvian Security Service of Parliament and State President
  Security Service of the Parliament and State President of the Republic of Latvia ) was a separate unit of the National Armed Forces. It provided security to the Parliament and State President, guarded objects, institutions and persons of national importance...
  
  
• Training and Doctrine Command
• Logistics Command

Personnel

There are 1,700 active duty personnel in the NAF. There are 971 soldiers in the Latvian Land Forces

Latvian Land Forces

Land Forces ) form the regular contingent of the National Armed Forces and provide for the defense of all national territories. The development of the Land Forces is directed towards improving their combat andprofessional capabilities.- Mission :...

, 552 in the Latvian Naval Forces

Latvian Naval Forces

Latvian Naval Forces is a branch of the National Armed Forces tasked with conducting military and rescue operations at sea. Today, they are fully operational and successfully perform all the tasks entrusted to them. The NF perform mine and explosive sweeping on the Baltic Sea, as well as search...

, 251 in the Latvian Air Force

Latvian Air Force

Latvian Air Force is the aviation branch of the National Armed Forces. The first Air Force units were established 1992. It has no air combat capability, thus the defense of Latvian air space is maintained by NATO, with rotating detachments of four aircraft to Lithuania at four-monthly intervals...

. There are 10,642 voluntary national guardsmen with 1,284 officers and 1,945 non-commissioned officers in the Latvian National Guard. There are 1,380 civil and military employees serving in the NAF.

Cooperation

Along with providing for national defense, the NAF will also react immediately to threats to other allies and to international crises.

Latvia cooperates with Estonia

Estonia

Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...

 and Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

 in the joint infantry battalion BALTBAT and naval squadron BALTRON

BALTRON

The Baltic Naval Squadron was inaugurated in 1998. The main responsibility of BALTRON is to improve the co-operation between the Baltic states in the areas of naval defence and security...

 which are available for peacekeeping operations.

Currently, NATO is involved in the patrolling and protection of the Latvian air space as the Latvian military does not have the means to do so. For this goal a rotating force of four NATO fighters, which comes from different nations and switches at two or three month intervals, is based in Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

 to cover all three Baltic states

Baltic states

The term Baltic states refers to the Baltic territories which gained independence from the Russian Empire in the wake of World War I: primarily the contiguous trio of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania ; Finland also fell within the scope of the term after initially gaining independence in the 1920s.The...

 (see Baltic Air Policing

Baltic Air Policing

The Baltic air-policing mission is a NATO air defence Quick Reaction Alert in order to guard the airspace over the three Baltic states Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.-Mission:...

).

Modernization

After joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Latvia has undertaken obligations to strengthen common defense within the scope of its capabilities. For this purpose, every NATO member state delegates its military formations — fast response, well-armed and well-equipped units capable to operate beyond the NATO’s borders.

After joining NATO, the foundation of the Latvian defense system has shifted from total territorial defense to collective defense. Latvia has acquired small but highly professional troops that have been fully integrated into NATO structures. NAF soldiers have participated in international operations since 1996. Specialized units (e.g. units of military medics, military police, unexploded ordnance neutralizers, military divers and special forces) have been established in order to facilitate and enhance NAF participation in international operations. Special attention has been paid to establishing a unit to deal with the identification and clearance of nuclear pollution

Pollution

Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into a natural environment that causes instability, disorder, harm or discomfort to the ecosystem i.e. physical systems or living organisms. Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy, such as noise, heat or light...

. The successful participation of Latvian soldiers in international exercises, operations and missions demonstrates that their professional skills already comply with the performance requirements set by the Alliance.

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