Director of C-IED COE in Szentendre

Szöveg: Warrant Officer Péter Szabó | 2011. július 25. 9:20

Colonel Santiago San Antonio, Director of NATO Counter Improvised Explosive Devices Centre of Excellence (C-IED COE) and the Executive Officer of the COE paid an official visit to the HDF Central Training Base in the framework of the Bilateral International Co-operation Program on the 13-14th of July.

Colonel Zsolt Mikusi, Commandant of HDF CTB introduced the guests to the Base infrastructure, the facilities and its potentials, described the HDF CTB’s assignment which comes from its basic purpose, and the distinguished national and international C-IED training programs for the visitors.

Colonel Santiago presented a detailed briefing upon the NATO C-IED COE including its mission, current activity, and all the efforts that the COE is making to contribute to the tactical, operational and strategic counter-IED activities of the Alliance. He outlined in his presentation that the distinguished objective of the Centre of Excellence is to facilitate the IED “attack the network" capabilities in the allied nations, thus reducing the numbers of IED casualties.

One main item on the agenda during the round-table discussion in which representatives from the Ministry of Defense, the HDF Defense Staff and the HDF Joint Force Command also took part was the examination of possible cooperation between the two organizations. There is a need for possibilities that do not compete but mutually reinforce each other to ensure a cost-effective way to increase the capabilities of the participating members. Colonel Santiago sees the first step of this collaboration as participation in the work of the C-IED COE not only as a sponsoring nation, but also as an active member of the organization.

Col. Santiago was supportive of bringing up our proposal during the next Steering Committee meeting in October, when Hungary can provide its Food for Thought in front of the sponsoring nations.

This second-time visit of the Director of the COE here in Szentendre satisfied both parties, looking forward to taking a more active part in the work of the COE.

The collaboration of nations and the sharing of experiences and capabilities are necessary to counter IEDs, the tools used to make these devices and the networks operating them. This is the only way for us to safeguard the different nations and allied soldiers from the dangers posed by IEDs – this was a closing remark at the end of the visit.