Multinational Cooperation is a Real Value

Clever Ferret 2017, a two-week tactical exercise of the Italian-led Multinational Land Force (MLF) ended with a successful and spectacular demonstration. This cooperation among Hungarian, Italian and Slovenian soldiers started in 1996, when, in the interest of strengthening regional security and defence capabilities, Italy initiated the establishment of a joint-readiness rapid reaction brigade which is able to give effective responses to military challenges.

For nearly 20 years now, the MLF has organized a joint exercise every year, during which the soldiers can show their preparedness and skills. The main objective of this year’s live fire tactical training was to further improve interoperability. “In itself, this year’s exercise was different from the ones conducted in previous years. For a couple of years, our goal has been to bring these three nations closer together, to get to know each other’s procedures more efficiently, and to make this exercise an integrated training event, instead of shooting and practicing tactics merely beside each other here in the military training area, and finally stating that the joint exercise was a great success.", Officer Conducting the Exercise (OCE) Brig.-Gen. Dr. Gábor Böröndi, Land Forces Chief, HDF Joint Force Command said. He pointed out that in this regard, Clever Ferret was especially successful, as “two company-level task forces carried out the tasks as integrated subunits. They operated under Hungarian and Italian command, and the Slovenians participated in the activities of both elements. We have created interoperability, we have been able to cooperate and to get to know each other better."

The participating soldiers were also successful in achieving the goals, as the primary objective was to understand each other’s language. Brig.-Gen. Dr. Gábor Böröndi emphasized that this does not necessarily mean the knowledge of English. More to the point is that the soldiers of different nationalities develop and maintain a common understanding thanks to which they become able to lead each other, trust each other and get familiarized with the characteristics of each other’s military equipment. Besides, another objective was to work out procedures that ensure best deployability for all three sides, and provide adequate strength to engage the enemy. The Hungarian, Italian and Slovenian troops gave a perfect proof of that by demonstrating how to launch a counterattack from defensive position with the use of air and ground assets in the central military training area and range on 10 November.

Following the spectacular and convincing culmination exercise, Chief of Staff of the Italian Army Lt.-Gen. Danilo Errico, HDF JFC Commander Lt.-Gen. János Huszár, OCE Brig.-Gen. Dr. Gábor Böröndi and MLF Commander Brig.-Gen. Paolo Fabbri expressed their satisfaction by presenting medals and rewards. In his speech, Lt.-Gen. Danilo Errico said that the real values of Exercise Clever Ferret 2017 are multinational cooperation and the soldiers whose common goal is to protect the ideas of freedom and democracy.

Lt.-Gen. János Huszár added that the threats posing challenges to Europe these days also make the soldiers reconsider the solutions they have to apply in order to strengthen and guarantee security. As he pointed out, the need for widening multinational cooperation and for the joint utilization of lessons learned is greater than ever before, and the Multinational Land Force provides a perfect opportunity for achieving these goals.

During the last two weeks, Croatian and Albanian military observers also had a chance to witness the successful cooperation of Hungarian, Italian and Slovenian soldiers. This gives special pleasure to the leaders of the Multinational Land Force, because the long-term plans include widening the scope of cooperation to cover other European countries, and thereby creating a multinational security assistance force.

Photo: Zoltán Tischler