Estonian DefMin wants to expand central training ground, build a new one

Photo: Meelis Meilbaum

The Estonian Defense Ministry wants to widen the safety zone of the defense forces' central training ground in West-Viru County and create a new training ground in its vicinity to enable the defense forces to carry out trainings with infantry fighting vehicles.  

The Scouts Battalion will soon take into use the CV9035 IFVs bought from the Netherlands which will be delivered to Estonia in 2016-2018. Right now it is not possible to carry out battalion-level IFV training in Estonia, the ministry's deputy secretary general for defense planning Jonatan Vseviov said. Because of this, the ministry wants to expand the safety zone of the central training ground so firing exercises could be conducted there.

The ministry also wants to build a new training ground at Soodla near the central training ground. This too is necessary for IFV training, Vseviov said, explaining that the central training ground is used also by allied units stationed in Estonia and allies' aircraft use it for target practice during which IFV training cannot be conducted there. The cost of the Soodla training ground is estimated at around 10 million euros most of which will be spent on the acquisition of land and building of roads.

The planned extension of the central training ground and the new training ground are situated on the territory of four municipalities - Kuusalu, Anija, Tapa and Kadrina.

According to plans, the safety zone of the central training ground will be widened by 62.8 square kilometers to the west, seven square kilometers to the north, 25.6 square kilometers to the east and 6.2 square kilometers to the south. Most of the land needed for the extension is owned by the state. As far as the Defense Ministry knows, there are two permanently inhabited households there, Vseviov said.

The future Soodla training ground is planned to cover 36.8 square kilometers and its safety zone, 19.2 square kilometers. There are no permanent inhabitants there.

The areas eyed by the Defense Ministry are actively used for hiking, skiing, and berry and mushroom picking, Vseviov acknowledged. He said the ministry does not plan to declare those areas off-limits but access will be restricted during drills. Trainings will take place mainly in fall and winter for about 90 days a year.

Officials of the Defense Ministry have visited the local self-governments to present the expansion plans. «The necessity of developing national defense found understanding everywhere,» Vseviov said and added that the ministry tries to solve the people's legitimate concerns.

The ministry hopes to complete the necessary paperwork and forward the documents for approval within a few weeks.