OLIVER 2015 specialized coordination exercise On 6 — 10 July, Training Centre Lešť hosted the OLIVER 2015 specialized coordination exercise, designed to test the capabilities and capacities of Slovakia’s pertinent authorities and components to conduct a critical response to a nuclear or radioactive material incident. The exercise, directed by the President of the Police Corps of the Slovak Republic, marked the culmination of the training involving the SVK Armed Forces and the SVK Ministry of the Interior, with the latter including the Dangerous Materials Detection and Environmental Crime Investigation Division of the Criminal Police Office of the Presidium of the Police Corps, Border and Foreign Police Office, Special Purpose Unit, Railway Police, Road Traffic Police, Firefighting and Rescue Corps, CO Chemical Control Laboratories, and other components. The exercise was organized on the initiative of the United States National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and the NNSA staff oversaw the specific stages of the exercise. Exercise scenario incidents were prepared in advance, including the smuggling of radioactive material across a railway border checkpoint, a road traffic accident involving vehicles with radioactive material, and a Police Corps members’ raid on a facility containing explosive devices with radioactive material. The scenarios were highly demanding in terms of organizational requirements for both the Operations Control Centre as well as the intervening members of the Interior Ministry. For the purposes of the exercise, members of the CBRN BN were tasked to decontaminate people. ● The UNFICYP mission emphasizes the importance of building relations with the host country as well as those among continents. Regular sports days are organized towards this end. Sector 4 has already enjoyed its Summer Sports Day. Supported by Famagusta’s municipal authorities, the event welcomed over 200 troops from the other sectors of UNFICYP. The programme featured football and volleyball tournaments, specially tailored triathlon, rescue runs, and an obstacle Spartan-like course, enlivened by logics games and team tasks. The overall winners of Summer Sports Day were troops from Sector 2.
New Horizon 2015 (15 July) In response to the ongoing security developments, the SVK Ministry of Defence is to stage yet another unscheduled exercise. After last year’s successful training events mainly aimed at domestic crisis management and joint defence, service members along with personnel from the Ministry of the Interior will be exercised in conducting joint operations in the event of a massive influx of refugees. “The current security situation is not ideal and it calls for our increased attention. That’s why we’ve decided to initiate an exercise which will test the coordination and readiness of the security components to handle a wave of refugees coming from different African and Near East countries,” said SVK Minister of Defence Martin Glváč. Reflecting on the exercise, Chief of the General Staff of the SVK Armed Forces Lt Gen Milan Maxim said that the exercise is an excellent way to validate the readiness of the SVK Armed Forces units and facilities to execute assistance tasks. “The Armed Forces stand ready to perform partial tasks, however, this exercise will test the overall coordination of procedures and complex activities, ranging from border patrolling to logistical support to a detention camp. At the same time, we are pleased that the Interior Ministry’s components will get actively involved in the training event, which will bring a whole new quality to the training of our troops,” he said. Speaking about the exercise, Lt Gen Peter Gajdoš, 1st Vice Chief of the General Staff of the SVK Armed Forces, added that the exercise will bring together approx. 170 to 200 troops and 30 combat vehicles. For the exercise, the participating components from other ministries will assign up to 100 personnel and 20 vehicles. Exercise New Horizon 2015, the preparation of which was launched by the military in early July, will be held on Kolíňanský Vrch Training Area and at Nitra Barracks at the end of July. The exercise is designed to validate the readiness to align the standard operational procedures (SOPs) of troops, police personnel and migration office staff. As part of the exercise, a fictitious refugee camp will be set up temporarily at Nitra Barracks, where procedures for processing refugees, delivering medical care, and maintaining public order will be scrutinized. Additionally, troops will practise executing joint patrols along the national border as well as incident response missions to detain human traffickers.
Soldiers verify activation
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(16 July) Chief of the General Staff of the SVK Armed Forces Lt Gen Milan Maxim gave orders for the activation of the Reserve Company, earmarked for the European Union Force Althea (EUFOR ALTHEA) in Bosnia and Herzegovina, to be verified. “Unexpected verification inspections for troops are the best way to determine their readiness, eradicate deficiencies, and be better prepared for crisis situations,” remarked SVK Minister of Defence Martin Glváč. The earmarked unit of the 11th Mechanized Battalion Martin is currently on stand-by for 12 months on the territory of the Slovak Republic. Being ready and certified, it is now poised to be transported to the area of operations, where, if deployed, it would carry out operational tasks under the EUFOR ALTHEA Commander, with the main remit of securing public order. Based on EUFOR ALTHEA’s reconfigured concept as of 1 September 2012, only a minimum force (600 troops, of which 35 are SVK Armed Forces service members), has been deployed directly in Bosnia and Herzegovina to monitor the security situation.
● Lt Gen Peter Gajdoš, 1st Vice Chief of the General Staff of the SVK Armed Forces, held talks with Lt Col Per Råstedt, the outgoing Defence Attaché of the Kingdom of Sweden to the Slovak Republic, and Lt Col Ole Höglund, the incoming Defence Attaché of the Kingdom of Sweden to the Slovak Republic. Lt Gen Gajdoš highlighted the cooperation efforts between both armed forces. Sweden is our significant partner mainly in light of the intergovernment agreement signed in 2013, which has established a framework for intensifying the bilateral relationship in the field of defence cooperation. ● On 13-17 July, the Chief NCO of the SVK Armed Forces, Command Sergeant Major Vladimír Beluš, accompanied by the Sergeant Major of the Army, Command Sergeant Major Rastislav Bodnár, and the Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force, Command Sergeant Major Peter Kuka conducted a series of meetings throughout military units and facilities in East Slovakia. As part of the working trip, the Chief NCO updated Col Robert Tóth, Commander of the Helicopter Wing Prešov, on the areas of possible cooperation and coordination with the helicopter training instructors of the Indiana National Guard in delivering training and education programmes as the UH 60 Black Hawk helicopters are being fielded to the SVK Armed Forces. After transferring to the 2nd Mechanized Brigade (2nd Mech Bde) Prešov, the delegation was received by Col Martin Stoklasa, Commander of 2nd Mech Bde. There, Vladimír Beluš familiarized himself with the current developments in the military unit’s enlisted ranks and NCO corps. Also up for discussion was optimisation of training courses, assignments to courses, language training, review and innovation of regulations and duty-related aids. The Chief NCO was also interested in soldiers’ feedback on the Professional Soldiers’ State Service Bill. ● Members of the First Aid Station of the Engineer Battalion Sereď, working in cooperation with the National Blood Transfusion Service of the Slovak Republic – Blood Collection Centre Nitra, organized a blood donation event for the second time this year. As part of the initiative, the most precious liquid was donated by 66 engineers. This noble tradition – called Drop of Blood from a Sapper – has existed for 22 years. A total of 5,911 blood donors have participated in the event to date. ● On 13-16 July, members of the Vlkanová-Hronsek Crisis Management Section (CMS) carried out a preparatory exercise aimed at detaining refugees in very difficult terrain. Focus was on coordination of the CMS staff in applying different patrolling techniques along a designated route; clearing natural obstacles while patrolling; protecting a strategic facility; conducting incident response; transporting refugees to a detention camp; providing urgent medical care; communicating the rules of hygiene and sanitation; and setting up a command post in the field conditions.
Military skills competition UNFICYP’s prestigious Military Skills Competition in Cyprus took place in July’s summer scorch. The original date of the event was postponed three times due to different operational tasks. The competitors, who had been training several months ahead of the scheduled event, were already losing hope, not knowing whether they would get the chance to pit their strengths against each other. While in the training phase, two teams of Sector 4 were lucky because from the onset of their training until its conclusion they hadn’t had to change their team members. Sometimes it is difficult to meet the requirement of having at least one female competitor on the team. This year’s competition events were slightly adjusted, taking account of the July weather. The starting shot was fired one hour earlier than usual. The route, nearly 7 km of arduous terrain, remained unchanged. Also unchanged was the shooting event, which featured the firing of handheld firearms from four different positions and distances. In the driving event, Team Alfa (Slovakia) was absolutely unrivalled. This year the assault course event was, however, replaced by relay swimming in the battle dress uniform. Lt Col Jaroslav Bitala, Commander of Sector 4, was satisfied with the final results as both of his teams ended up on the winners’ podium. While Hungarian Team Bravo successfully defended its last year’s victory, Slovak Team Alfa came in third.
Meeting with mayors (14 July) On Tuesday, Brig Gen Miroslav Korba received a delegation of town and village mayors from the vicinity of Sliač Airport and representatives of the “We’ll Give Silence to the Residents of Sliač” Civil Association at the SVK Air Force Headquarters (SVK AF HQ). They met to discuss solutions in an effort to cater to the wishes of the local residents who have been exposed to aircraft and airport noise. Brig Gen Miroslav Korba briefed the audience on the main tasks of the SVK Air Force and its commitments arising out of NATO membership. Lt Col Josef Hausner, Chief of the Air Training Section, gave an explanation of the basic procedures for incoming and outgoing flights, training methodology, and flight mechanics. Lt Col Koloman Bornemisza, Chief of the Flight Safety Section, clarified the set of noise abatement measures having been put in place, with emphasis on following flight safety rules. At the end of the meeting, Col Vladimír Lisý, Commander of the Combined Wing, reminded of the contribution the Combined Wing Sliač and Sliač Airport JSC have made in favour of regional development. The meeting was viewed very positively by village and town mayors.
Exercise Tobruq Legacy 2016 will be held next year in Slovakia (16 July) Tobruq Legacy has an ambition to become a regular international exercise. The first step towards this was Exercise Tobruq Legacy 2015, held between 23 June and 3 July in the Czech Republic, which set the trend for international cooperation of small-sized Air Defence (AD) units. In 2016, the Slovak Republic will take over the patronage of the exercise. Towards this end, on 14-15 July, SVK Air Force Headquarters Zvolen hosted a conference focused on drafting the Tobruq Legacy 2016 exercise concept. It was attended by representatives of the participating Armed Forces, including from the United States of America, Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Latvia and Lithuania. In addition, among next year’s exercise partici-
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pants will be AD units from Slovenia and Bulgaria. Talks are also underway with the United Kingdom, which has also expressed interest in participating in the exercise. Exercise Tobruq Legacy 2016 will be aimed at rehearsing operational missions in compliance with Article 5 of the Washington Treaty, with emphasis on the interoperability among NATO countries and on testing and validating the standard operational procedures (SOPs) for landbased air defence systems operating in the environment of an international Joint Task Force (JTF). Exercise Tobruq Legacy 2016 has been incorporated into NATO’s 2016 Military Education and Training Plan (MTEP) and is open to all NATO member states.
July 13 - 19, 2015