An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir November / December 2025 www.military.ie/magazine Work experience POV: In July 2024 I moved with my wife and four kids to Brussels, Belgium to start a new appointment in the EU military operational headquarters that is titled the 'Military Planning and Concept Capability' or simply MPCC! My appointment is the primary strategic planner in J5 on the EU Military Assistance Mission (EUMAM) to Ukraine, and which has led to one of the most challenging, interesting and rewarding periods in my career. The MPCC operate at the military-strategic level, one down from the political-strategic level and therefore provides planning support to the planning process at this political-strategic level and other EU bodies as appropriate. My chief tasks include contributing to the Strategic Reviews/Assessments of Ukraine, conducting trips to different parts of Ukraine at specific periods and in particular, leading the Strategic Planning Groups for several Ukraine planning taskings, most significantly the EUMAM Ukraine Mission Plan. From a working perspective, my previous two years in the Command and Staff School, first as an instructor and later as course coordinator has benefited me enormously in my appointment. In my opinion, the Command and Staff School in the Military College equips its graduates with the relevant planning skills to work seamlessly in an EU or NATO headquarters and contribute effectively at the operational and strategic level. But what exactly is EUMAM UKRAINE? EUMAM Ukraine was established on 17 October 2022 and launched on 15 November 2022. As of 30 September 2025, EUMAM has trained 84, 000 Ukrainian soldiers (equivalent of 15 combat brigades) in 2000 training modules (TM) conducted on EU soil. In addition to training conducted by EUMAM's subordinated Commands, the Combined Arms Training Command (CAT-C) in Poland and the Special Training Command (ST-C) in Germany, and 16 other Member States hosted TM on their soil. EUMAM provides training for the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) and internal security forces, such as the National Guard of Ukraine (NGU), the State Border Guard Service Ukraine (SBGSU) and the National Police (NPU) operating under the operational command of the AFU. At the core of EUMAM's mandate are UA's needs, which are dictated by the situation on the battlefield. EUMAM's flexible, scalable and modular approach allows the mission to adapt and quickly respond to training requests. Over the last mandate, the mission has not only broadened its training audience to include internal security forces, but also expanded training efforts to maritime and air domains. The strengthening of instructional quality by the mission resulted in multiplying the effect on AFU's overall combat effectiveness. In the land domain, EUMAM's main effort focused on individual and collective training, leadership and specialist training. In the air domain, Ukrainian pilots, having completed their F-16 and Mirage 2000-5 training, allowed the UA F-16s to operate in combat since August 2024 and Mirage 2000-5s since February 2025. While in the maritime domain, EUMAM trained approximately 2000 UA soldiers in 9 Member States highlighting the vast scope of military training provided by the EU. While not expressed perhaps as much as it should be, the EU and its Member States are at the forefront of international efforts to support Ukraine. The EU have so far mobilised almost EUR 164.8 billion of assistance to Ukraine and its people. This includes over EUR 63.2 billion of military support, including EUR 6.1 billion through the European Peace Facility. EUMAM has become the largest provider of military training to Ukraine, a key partner for NATO and a model of a particularly effective military CSDP mission. EUMAM is highly 24 | STRATEGIC PLANNER FOR EUMAM STRATEGIC PLANNER FOR EUMAM UKRAINE IN THE EU MILITARY UKRAINE IN THE EU MILITARY HEADQUARTERS, BRUSSELS HEADQUARTERS, BRUSSELS BY LT COL STEPHEN MOLUMPHY EU Operations Headquarters: Working together in a multinational environment with military staff from all European Union countries (April 2025) Lt Col Stephen Molumphy (J5 MPCC) and Capt Jordan Corrigan (J3 MPCC) outside St. Sophia's Cathedral, Kyiv, Ukraine.

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