Estonia will contribute a specialized unit and staff officers to the European Unions rapid reaction force, a spokesman for the Estonian defence forces said Thursday.

The EU announced the launch of rapid-response battle groups at the end of last year, marking a major step towards developing the blocs military muscle.

"Estonia will contribute staff officers and a platoon-size specialized unit, the exact size and nature of which have yet to be decided," Peeter Tali, spokesman for the Estonian defence forces, told AFP.

Estonia will be participating in the Nordic battle group, which is to be led by Sweden and will also include Finland and Norway.

The other Baltic states of Latvia and Lithuania will be in a different battle group, with Poland, Germany and Slovakia.

The Nordic group should be ready to participate in missions as of 2008, Tali said.

The 1,500-strong tactical groups are expected to be able to be deployed within 15 days and remain on the ground for up to four months.

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation last March and the EU in May.