Members of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) will participate in Operation OPEN SPIRIT 2014 in Latvia between 9 and 22 May 2014. Op OPEN SPIRIT is an annual, combined and joint operation aimed at clearing explosive remnants of war (ERW).
This year’s operation will include military members from the Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 1 (SNMCMG1) and 14 nations: Latvia, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, France, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Poland, Germany, Lithuania, Turkey, United States, and Canada. The operation will be led by the Latvia Naval Flotilla and will be based out of the Latvian Naval Base in Liepaja, located in west Latvia on the Baltic Sea. ERW will be cleared in the Territorial Waters and Exclusive Economic Zone of Latvia.
The Canadian task force includes members of the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) clearance divers based out of Fleet Diving Unit (Atlantic), from Canadian Forces Base Halifax, Nova Scotia. A Liaison and Staff Officer will act as the Task Force Commander.
Op OPEN SPIRIT 2014 provides the CAF with an opportunity to strengthen ties with key allies in Eastern Europe. It will also help RCN clearance divers develop and validate advanced conventional munitions disposal capabilities under conditions which cannot be easily replicated in Canada.
The Baltic Sea saw heavy fighting during the First and Second World War, which included air bombardment, naval gunfire support, mine-laying, and submarine warfare. As a result, unexploded ordnance (UXO) remains in some areas of the Baltic Sea.
UXO is ammunition which has been fired but has failed to explode, presenting a potential safety hazard to the area. The removal of UXO provides improved safety for the local population through the elimination of risks from unstable and unsafe explosives.
Op OPEN SPIRIT is an annual multinational historical explosive remnant of war operation conducted in the spirit of Partnership for Peace on a rotational basis hosted by one of the three Baltic nations – Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia.
The goal of the operation is to reduce the threat of unexploded ordnance throughout the Baltic Sea region, foster goodwill and support important relationships with defence partners in the region. Specifically, the operation aims to:
- reduce the risk from maritime ERW for shipping and fisheries in the Baltic Sea;
- exercise naval mine countermeasure operations in a challenging environment;
- deploy land-based explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) teams in Naval Mine Counter-Measures (NMCM) Operations;
- enhance interoperability concerning communications, seamanship and diving operations; and
- provide information within the Baltic Ordinance Safety Board integrated support plan.
Between 29 October and 7 December 2013, nine CAF members participated in Op RENDER SAFE – the Australian-led biannual explosive ordnance disposal operation in the Southwest Pacific – to clear both maritime and landward explosive remnants of war.
Op RENDER SAFE 13 took place in the Solomon Islands – a country that saw heavy air bombardment and naval gunfire during the Second World War and where UXO can still be found on many of the islands. The operation included 200 personnel from the Australia Defence Force, the New Zealand Defence Force, the United States Navy and the Royal Solomon Island Police Force.
CAF operators were divided into two teams:
- four clearance divers from the Royal Canadian Navy operated near the Russell Islands with an underwater EOD team; and
- two combat engineers from the Canadian Army and two specialists from the Royal Canadian Air Force joined a land EOD team, which focused on the tropical island of Guadalcanal.
SNMCMG1’s mission is to provide continuous and far-reaching maritime mine countermeasures capability for operations in peacetime and periods of conflict. The group is engaged in search and disposal operations within NATO but also with NATO partners.
SNMCMG1 makes the sea a safer place, conducting Historical Ordnance Disposal operations to minimize the threat from old WWII mines for all those who use the sea.
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