Lithuania holds annual largest national mobilization exercise "Vitis Dome 2026"

Lithuania held the annual largest national mobilization exercise "Vitis Dome 2026" from September 25 to October 3. (Taken from the Lithuanian government website)

[Reporter Tu Jumin/Comprehensive Report] Against the background of the raging war between Ukraine and Russia and the continued tense security situation in the Baltic Sea, Lithuania held the annual largest national mobilization exercise "Vitis Dome 2026" from September 25 to October 3, mobilizing 14 ministries and 60 people across the country. Local governments and military and police, border, medical, energy and other units have invested about 3,000 civil servants and officials, and 1,000 volunteers to comprehensively verify wartime response capabilities such as resident evacuation, protection of critical infrastructure, diversion of military and civilian traffic, transportation of important supplies, and reception of allied forces.

According to public information from the Lithuanian government, the exercise was hosted by the Lithuanian National Crisis Management Center and the Mobilization and Civil Resistance Bureau of the Ministry of Defense. It used "table-top exercises" and "real-force exercises" in parallel. Although the exercise scenarios are fictitious, they are designed based on current security threats, recent conflict experience and cases from other countries. The content includes the gradual deterioration of the security situation, information and network attacks, energy and communication interruptions, obstruction of transportation corridors, overloading of critical services, and chemical, biological, radioactive and nuclear threats.

Among them, September 26 will actually verify the resident evacuation process, from alarms, information notifications, personnel gathering, registration, transportation, to inter-local government transfer and destination placement, and test the evacuated personnel registration system, military-civilian coordination and alternative transportation routes. The police will also be responsible for traffic control and practice diversion of military and civilian traffic to avoid interference with transportation lines during wartime.

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September 29 is another highlight of the exercise. In addition to activating sirens across the country and sending warning messages to people's mobile phones, it will also test the resilience of critical infrastructure when it is threatened by air. In the Klaipeda area, the military, police, border and VIP protection units will jointly verify the detection and elimination of air threats, while also practicing the reception of allied troops, military-civilian transportation coordination, and the distribution of important resources such as humanitarian supplies, medical supplies, and fuel.

The Lithuanian government emphasized that this exercise was a "resilience test" of the entire national mobilization system. The purpose was to confirm whether various agencies, the military, local governments, enterprises and non-governmental organizations could maintain operations despite incomplete information, limited resources and blocked communications, so as to ensure that key national functions were not interrupted during wartime.