Hungarian EOD Technicians Prove Their Skills

President of the Republic of Slovakia Andrej Kiska and Slovak Defence Minister Martin Glváč also attended the VIP Day on October 21. At the event, it was said that Ground Pepper 2014 originally started out as an exercise for a multinational battle group composed of Czech and Slovak task force units, but in this June, the organizers decided to dedicate the training event to helping the preparation of the V4 EU Battle Group to be set up in 2016.

“In the organizational phase of Ground Pepper 2014, the Slovak partner requested Hungary – as a V4 member state and NATO ally – to participate in the exercise, if possible. This was when a decision was made that we join the executing sub-units by contributing the EOD capability of the HDF 1st EOD and Warship Regiment. This means that Hungarian soldiers are executing EOD tasks during the exercise", Lt.-Gen. Dr. Zoltán Orosz told us on the spot.

In the first part of the VIP Day program, following a live fire exercise conducted by the Czech and Slovak rifle companies, the Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff emphasized that based on what they had seen, all participants were convinced that a dynamic and systematic activity was taking place on the range.

“By the decision of the V4 Prime Ministers, similar exercises must be conducted every year. In 2015, Hungary will host Exercise “Brave Warrior 2015", which is already in the planning phase. Besides, we should not forget that the certification exercise of the battle group is due to take place in 2015", Lt.-Gen. Zoltán Orosz added.

The program of the VIP Day continued with a dynamic display of Slovak and Czech Special Force units, which demonstrated their capabilities in “clearing" a house seized by terrorists, the arrest of wanted persons and their transportation from the scene. Another dynamic display focused on fighting in built-up areas (FIBUA), so the Slovak, Czech and US soldiers recaptured some buildings occupied by enemy forces. During this activity, the Hungarian EOD technicians also had a role to play, as they were tasked with defeating an improvised explosive device (IED) emplaced on a door of a searched building.

“We were able to shoot this suspicious package to pieces in the simplest and safest way, using an EOD robot, a disruptor which injected a projectile of water. This way, we prevented it from detonating", the leader of a bomb disposal squad participating in the exercise told us. SSgt. Henrik Kiss added that all this was routine work for them, since they have to execute similar tasks day by day on foreign missions.

The VIP Day of Exercise Ground Pepper 2014 ended with a static display of military equipment in service with the participating military units.