Intergovernmental military alliance Nato has opened the first Multinational Ammunition Warehousing Initiative (MAWI) location in Estonia.
According to a Nato statement, the MAWI warehouse was officially opened by the Chiefs of Defence of Belgium and Estonia.
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As agreed earlier, other allied members can use the facility to stock their ammunition as part of their enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) contributions.
Eight European Nato-member countries signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) last year to address the management of ammunition stockpiles.
The initiative aimed to establish such multinational ammunition storage facilities, in order to address logistical challenges during Nato deployments.
Nato now plans to open additional MAWI locations to support eFP, as well as the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF) to strengthen its battle groups.
The Nato statement said: “The MAWI location in Estonia will save resources and prevent logistical problems by eliminating the need for unnecessarily rotating munitions stockpiles, in conjunction with the various deployment cycles.
“The long-term ambition is that the MAWI high-visibility project will change the way Nato allies and partners go about the storing and distribution of munition stockpiles. This will free up resources for other defence purposes.”
Nato has stepped up measures to strengthen its defences in the eastern part of the alliance, in response to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
The steps included the deployment of additional troops and equipment.
Earlier this month, the alliance activated the Nato Response Force as a collective defensive measure and sent troops to Romania.
