EU counter-IED exercise begins with 12 countries and 1,000 personnel
A total of 300 C-IED vehicles will take part in BC23. (Image: EDA)
Bison Counter 23 will include observers from Sweden, Latvia, Romania and the US, and has followed on from similar exercises in 2013, held in the Netherlands, 2016 (Sweden) and 2021 (Italy).
Hundreds of vehicles, 1,000 personnel, 28 K-9 dogs and five speed boats have moved into place to take part in Bison Counter 23 (BC23), a European Defence Agency (EDA) counter-IED exercise across two sites in Spain which runs 7–24 November.
BC23 will include personnel from Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and Finland, and will take place in Zaragoza for ground activities and Cartagena for underwater activities.
According to a statement from the exercise's organisers, the objective will be to focus on improving the C-IED capabilities of European countries and allies, and to support efforts to help ‘EU Member States to act in a more coherent, interoperable and resilient way’.
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The statement continued: ‘The aim of executing the BC23 exercise is to specifically train the full spectrum of C-IED concept in a multi-level (from tactical to operational) and a multi-domain scenario where all C-IED efforts have to be synchronised to succeed.
‘The whole exercise is embedded in the intelligence cycle which allows interconnection among all levels.’
The exercise has scheduled in Force Integration and Battle Staff Training before the start of the main phase of the Command Post and Field Exercise. It will specifically train the full spectrum of C-IED concept in a multi-level (from tactical to operational) and a multi-domain scenario where all C-IED efforts have to be synchronised to succeed.
Exercises have been planned for 2025 and 2027 as part of effort, according to the EDA, to overcome ‘the capability shortfall in the context of C-IED’.
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