An Cosantóir

www.military.ie the defence forces magazine | 19 2 -45 and a decision will shortly be made in respect of the 'back fill'. Options include engaging again with a strategic partner or increasing our numbers in UNIFIL for a year. The return of the Irish contingent to the Bravo side in UNDOF is currently being examined. UNDOF HQ has devel- oped a three-phased plan for the full return of personnel to the Bravo side, with phases one and two complete and elements of phase three on target for completion by July 31, but no final decision has been taken in respect of the redeployment of the FRC (currently 57 Inf Gp). Our capability development programme continues, with the refurbishment of our armoured Mowag fleet being the priority. Although this process will take a number of years to complete, having recently viewed some of the refurbished vehicles I am extremely confident that this programme will greatly increase force protection and situ- ational awareness for our personnel into the future. We are also in the process of purchasing armoured logisti- cal vehicles for our overseas personnel, and they should be in the mission areas within the next 12 months. These vehicles will provide additional force protection for our logisticians operating in challenging environments abroad. what can you tell us about the aRw being selected as a lead unit in the German-led eu battlegroup in 2020? As part of our commitment to Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) we have been involved in EU battle- groups for a number of years; the most recent in 2016, were we had an ISTAR taskforce embedded with the German-led battlegroup. Two years before that I was GOC 1 Bde when we provided an ISTAR company to a Nordic battlegroup. The government has agreed that we be involved with the German-led battlegroup in 2020, to which we would deploy a unit comprising a C2 group, the ARW, EOD, engineer, and a force-protection element, along with a logs and admin group. We also expect deploy staff to the HQ in Germany. The ARW have not been overseas as a unit, operationally, since 2008, so it will enhance their inter-operability, chal- lenge their leadership, and develop additional skillsets. It will also help to develop relationships with key international partners and give the ARW an opportunity to operate in an international environment where they will be at the cutting edge of Special Forces operations. In December 2019 it is proposed that the full battlegroup will conduct a 10-day exercise in Germany, before complet- ing its certification exercise in March 2020. how will ireland's involvements in PeSco impact on the Defence forces? Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) was initiated by 24 EU states in December 2017 with the objective of increasing defence capability and coordination, and the end goal of better capacity to respond to the wide range of security threats, both conventional and non-conventional, challenging Europe. Participating nations sign up for different projects and Ireland has agreed that the DF will participate in two proj- ects. One is the EU Training Mission Competence Centre (EUTMCC), led by Germany, with 11 partner nations involved. Its aim is to streamline the training of personnel from EU nations wishing to deploy as part of an EU training mission through the establishment of a training centre that would deliver best practice in the area of training outputs to personnel prior to deployment. It is likely that when estab- lished the centre would have DF personnel involved in both training and instructing. Secondly, we well also participate, alongside six other nations, in maritime surveillance, with Greece as the lead,. This project is focused on improving information exchange in respect of maritime surveillance, and is particularly rel- evant in the context of our participation in Op Sophia. In addition, the Defence Forces will have observer status at eight other projects, which means that at some point in the future we can opt in to active participation in such areas as cyber-security, C-IED, military mobility, etc. In summary, PESCO should increase the capacity of the Defence Forces into the future as well as enhancing opera- tional and technology linkages with EU member states. Maj Gen Brennan in UNIFIL recently for the medal parade. Maj Gen Brennan speaking to members of the 56 Inf Gp at Camp Ziouani in March 2018.

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