Quick Response 2017 – International Exercise in Bosnia-Herzegovina

Exercise Director COS EUFOR Brig.-Gen. József Szpisják welcomed those arriving to attend the opening ceremony, among them COM EUFOR Maj.-Gen. Anton Waldner, Minister of Defence of Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH) Marina Pendes, and Minister of Security of BiH Dragan Mektic. The major-general also informed them about the event, revealing that the peace support operation exercise Quick Response 2017 is an event annually organized by EUFOR which is designed to mobilize and integrate the designated reserve forces into EUFOR’s Multinational Battalion (MNBN) and to test their respective contingency plans. This year, the Intermediate Response Force of the UK and elements of the Kosovo-based Hungarian-led KFOR Tactical Reserve Battalion (KTRBN) augmented the Hungarian and Turkish EUFOR companies stationed in BiH.

The exercise director emphasized that this year’s exercise is extraordinary and special from several aspects. As he said, this is the first time that the exercise has been planned and implemented together with the BiH law enforcement agencies and the armed forces of BiH. The exercise provides EUFOR and the law enforcement agencies with excellent opportunities to strengthen their interoperability, and beyond that, it provides all participating organizations with opportunities to test their contingency plans in realistic scenarios.

Between 12-14 October, the exercise was being conducted at three locations, namely Sarajevo International Airport, the Kalinovik military training area and around an ammunition storage site in Krupa. For the duration of the exercise, the Hungarian company was assigned force protection duties at Camp Butmir, therefore a platoon-sized force from Kosovo was integrated into the EUFOR Hungarian company.

After preparation, the soldiers of the Hungarian, Turkish and British companies carried out their tasks at all three locations. In cooperation with the local law enforcement agencies, at the request of the Ministry of Security, they exercised securing infrastructure for Sarajevo International Airport. In the Kalinovik military training area, they evacuated personnel from an ad hoc established EUFOR Liaison Observation Team (LOT) house, and at the third location in Krupa, the companies practiced securing the area around an ammunition storage site in cooperation with force protection (FP) military organizations.