An Cosantóir

www.military.ie THE DEFENCE FORCES MAGAZINE | 13 which includes troops from Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Finland, Latvia, Netherlands, Sweden and Ireland, will be on a six-month standby from 1st July 2020. The Defence Forces' main contribution involves 150 person- nel to the Special Operations Task Group. The Irish contingent includes an ARW special operations forces (SOF) platoon; an engineer special search capability; explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) team; and a force protection platoon. Ten members of the Defence Forces, including ARW person- nel, are currently deployed to the Force HQ in Germany. They will be part of the training and planning teams in advance of, and during, the Battlegroup's standby period. The DFTC are taking the Defence Forces lead for the Irish contribution, along with personnel from Custume Bks, Athlone, and Collins Bks, Cork. The ARW's role will involve tasks such as long-range reconnaissance and intelligence gathering. The National Support Element (NSE) will consist of a HQ, transport, medical, military police and computer information services (CIS) detachments. The Defence Forces formations for the Battlegroup are cur- rently in training in Ireland and in December 2019 conducted a national certification exercise for the EU Battlegroup in the Glen of Imaal. Comdt James O'Hara, DF Press Office, said: "Before being placed on standby for a six-month period, the unit undergoes a series of concentration periods designed to prepare personnel for the various types of operations our soldiers may experience during a possible deployment. This training focuses on essential soldier skills in areas such as navigation, physical training, com- munications, marksmanship and combat first aid. It also exercises and assesses unit skills and operational readiness through live- firing tactical training (LFTT), field-training manoeuvres and staff situational-training exercises." The main Defence Forces contingent will train with a view to participating in the multinational field-training exercise, 'Eu- ropean Challenge', scheduled to take place in Ulm, Germany, from 16th to 27th March. Ireland's participation in any specific Battlegroup operation is still subject to the triple-lock requirements as appropriate, and in accordance with the Defence Acts a further govern- ment decision would be required before any actual deployment.

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