Rūdninkai Training Area () is a

military facility A military base is a facility directly owned and operated by or for the military or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and operations. A military base always provides accommodations for ...

in Lithuania, located southwest of

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional u ...

and from the border with

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

. It is surrounded by

Rūdninkai Forest Rūdninkai Forest () is the fifth-largest Forests in Lithuania, forest in Lithuania. This old-growth forest in southeastern Lithuania is south of Vilnius. The forest is within the Vilnius District Municipality, Vilnius, Šalčininkai District ...

, the fifth largest forest in Lithuania. It is part of a larger training complex encompassing about .

History

Established in 1948, during the

Soviet occupation During World War II, the Soviet Union occupied and annexed several countries effectively handed over by Nazi Germany in the secret Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 1939. These included the eastern regions of Poland (incorporated into two different ...

, the area was used for training bomber crews. The facility was closed in 1993. Unexploded ordnance (UXO), usually air-dropped bombs weighing , are still discovered in the facility. The largest bomb, detonated in 2007, weighed . Rūdininkai training area is the largest territory of 222 areas in Lithuania, covering a total of , that are still contaminated by unexploded ordnance. The training area was re-established in 2022. From 2025, the

Lithuanian Armed Forces The Lithuanian Armed Forces () are the military of Lithuania. The Lithuanian Armed Forces consist of the Lithuanian Land Forces, the Lithuanian Naval Force and the Lithuanian Air Force. In wartime, the Lithuanian State Border Guard Service ( ...

will begin hosting the German

Bundeswehr The ''Bundeswehr'' (, meaning literally: ''Federal Defence'') is the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. The ''Bundeswehr'' is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part con ...

brigade A brigade is a major tactical military formation that typically comprises three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment. Two or more brigades may constitute a division. ...

(Panzerbrigade 45) in Rūdininkai Training Area.

References

Military of Lithuania Military installations established in 1948 1948 establishments in Lithuania {{Military-stub

History

See also

References